A New King
by Royal9000
Summary: Ichigo was stronger than his Hollow. If he wasn't, he never would've emerged from the Vizard's hideout. If he wasn't, he never could've increased his strength to the level he did. He wouldn't have gone to Hueco Mundo for Inoue. He wouldn't have learned the Mugetsu. He would never have fought against Aizen in the war. In this AU, he wasn't.
1. A New King

"Come on, Ichigo! Don't tell me you're all out of energy already!" The white version of Ichigo taunted, yellow eyes gleaming with joy. "It's only been forty minutes!"

Ichigo was panting, trying to keep up with the Hollow. "Shut up! I MUST beat you!"

The white Ichigo frowned. "I don't get it. Willpower alone isn't enough to overcome the gap in strength between us."

Ichigo growled. "Shut up!" He launched himself at the Hollow, prepared to slice his head off.

The white Ichigo grinned. "Finally, you've got some killing intent behind your strikes! This might be interesting after all!"

Ichigo pushed harder against the Hollow's blade, as if attempting to break it.

The washed-out hollow pressed his hand to the dull edge of his blade, and nearly whispered, "Getsuga Tensho." Ichigo's eyes widened as the red-trimmed, white crescent of energy hit against Tensa Zangetsu, ripping through his Shihakusho and knocking him back.

Ichigo barely stood up in time to hear the Hollow say, "Ichigo, tell me: what's the difference between a King and a Horse?"

* * *

On the outside, Hirako Shinji was fighting against a half-hollowfied Ichigo, who only had a single human arm and leg remaining. "Well, not bad," Shinji remarked. "I'm actually fighting at full strength right now. You've got potential, Ichigo. Assuming you don't die fighting your inner hollow, of course."

Meanwhile, Hiyori was sweating buckets. She was frightened at how easily Ichigo's hollow had overpowered her so easily before—and the others weren't even using their masks to fight! "Hey Kensei, how much time before it's my turn in there with the new guy?"

Kensei looked up from the fight. "Why? Are you so eager to get in there that you can't wait the remaining three minutes?" Kensei checked his watch. "Two minutes and thirty one seconds, to be precise."

Hiyori sniffed in indignation. "Baldy…" She murmured, frightened at the thought of facing Hollow Ichigo.

Shinji was irritated. "Oh, shut up, you two! I need to focus!"

* * *

Ichigo was out of energy. It was not his own decision to stop fighting; his arms literally would not raise Tensa Zangetsu to fighting level. The washed out Hollow looked similarly tired, but not as fatigued—He was still able to fight. "What's wrong, King? You think that you can still beat me in this state?"

Ichigo's eyes began to glow blue with reiatsu as his soul began to muster all of its remaining energy. "I KNOW I can still fight you. I know I can defeat you, too." He raised his sword. "Getsuga…"

The Hollow sneered and similarly readied an attack. "Getsuga…"

The two mirror-like warriors gathered all the rest of their remaining reiatsu into a single, final attack. This would be the deciding blow. The one who struck with this attack would be the one that won control for Ichigo's body and soul. This was the deciding moment in the entire war.

"TENSHO!" Red and White clashed against Red and Black, the fate of the Soul Society, World of the Living, and Hueco Mundo all hanging in the balance of power.

As the two crescent of pure energy clashed against each other, The Hollow laughed. "You've got some good instincts, King! Maybe you CAN defeat me! Let's see if you can push this back!" The Hollow seemed almost eager for Ichigo to defeat him, but didn't want to hold back anything either.

Ichigo was wordless, the blue glow in his eyes strengthening. It looked as if he was going to win the battle. The Hollow laughed and gave one last push, the two crescents of energy still pushing against each other with equal force.

* * *

"Swap!" Kensei shouted the word, and Hiyori shouted, jumping into the barrier nearly a half-second after Shinji exited.

Hiyori yelled, and the almost-completely hollowfied Ichigo looked surprised. It was this moment of hesitation on the near-Holow's part that changed the fate of the universe.

Hiyori slashed with precision, attempting to cut Ichigo's hand off—she didn't want him having a sword to fight her with. Her sword sliced Ichigo's human wrist, the last human part of his body. The white substance that had been healing Ichigo throughout the entire battle spurted from the wound, covering his hand. The Hollow was complete.

It roared with power, as its body and abilities were finally completed. Hiyori gasped as the surrounding reiatsu thickened considerably.

* * *

Inside Ichigo's soul, the two were still pushing energy into the Getsugas. Ichigo had the upper hand, but his second wind had almost faded—he was running on barely any more energy than he had before the final confrontation. He was winning, but if he lost any more strength, he would lose.

The Hollow, likewise, was out of energy completely. He saw his own Getsuga shrink and he whispered, "Good job, King," too softly to be heard. Then, as soon as the Hollow had resigned himself, he felt a sudden burst of energy; extra energy received from the outer hollow. The white Ichigo suddenly found his attack equal to Ichigo's once more, and Ichigo was fading fast. "Or not!" The hollow screeched.

Ichigo gasped. "No! It's not going to end like this!" He pushed the last of the energy out of his blade, and collapsed backwards, unconscious.

The Hollow laughed. "It's over, Ichigo! I win!" The Hollow almost lazily flicked his wrist, directing all of the energy back towards Ichigo. The Shinigami-daikou was near-instantly disintegrated. For all intents and purposes, Ichigo Kurosaki was a dead man.

The Hollow reverted back to Shikai and allowed his weapon to disappear into thin air. "That was a good fight, but I guess it wasn't enough. Somehow, I almost wanted you to win. I wasn't gonna go easy on you, but it would be nice knowing that someone out there is stronger than I am. Leaves me room to improve." The Hollow suddenly broke out of his reverie.

"Ah, but who am I to be sad over a victory? This is MY body now! I'm going to have some fun with this!" The Hollow laughed and vanished from the Inner World.

* * *

On the outside, The Vizard were near elated. As soon as The Hollow had semi-sealed his version of Zangetsu into its Shikai, the Hollow-crusting on Ichigo's body had begun to crack, with a bright-light glow coming from the cracks. Hiyori had realized what was happening, ordering to be let out of the barrier. After Hachi had done so, The Hollow had exploded, leaving an unconscious body on the floor.

This is where we pick up, with Shinji about to tap Ichigo's shoulder. "Hey buddy, you survived! We won't have to kill you after all!"

"Ichigo" groaned, and the Vizard laughed.

"Berry-tan's awake!" Mashiro chirped, then frowned. "But where's his mask?"

Shinji paused. "What?"

The rest of the Vizard followed suit, and the green-haired bimbo elaborated. "Well, when the rest of us beat our hollows, our masks fell off and just were lying there on the ground. I don't see Berry-tan's anywhere."

Lisa frowned. "You must be missing it. Ichigo's mask has to be lying on the ground somewhere close to him. It's the only remnant of his hollow left."

Shinji nodded and patted the semi-conscious body. "Yeah, but for now, let's help this poor soul get back to his feet. After all—" A hand had grabbed Shinji's wrist.

The Shinigami on the floor had raised his head, the half-mask reforming over his face already. "Who're you calling poor soul?" He hissed.

Everyone jumped in surprise except for Shinji, who was rooted to the ground by The Hollow's iron grip.

Love and Rose double-teamed the hollow, ready to strike. "Who are you? Are you…?" Love asked.

The Hollow sniffed and let loose a burst of reiatsu, knocking everyone but Shinji onto the ground. "I have no name. And really, what do you think I am? The eyes and the mask aren't a giveaway? And surely you could tell that my reiatsu is different than that idiot's. Seriously, you guys must be even worse than the idiot I ground into dust."

Shinji faced up the Hollow. "You're Ichigo's inner hollow. I thought he defeated you. Now, let go of my arm."

The Hollow furrowed his brow. "You must be Shinji. Glad to meet you, finally. I've seen you before through Ichigo's eyes, but this is the first time I've met you in real life."

Shinji spoke again, placing his free hand on his sword. "I said, let me go. Or do you want me to drag out your death for as long as possible."

The Hollow chuckled. The sound was less menacing than one would expect. "I'm different, you know. I'm not like the mindless beasts that rampaged inside you all that time ago. I'm sentient. All I care about is fighting. There's nothing I have against you."

Shinji faltered in his stony glare for a moment, and his hand fell off of his sword. The rest of the Vizard shouted in outrage. "Shinji!" "Surely not!" "What're you doing?" "Baldy, I'll rip your head off!"

Shinji replied calmly. "If he wants to kill me, I'll kill him first.

The two held hands, then The Hollow smirked, before whispering a phrase. "Tear the heavens in half…" Shinji's eyes widened, but it was too late. The Hollow unsheathed the sword on his back. "ZANGETSU!" A shrill laugh echoed throughout the basement. Shinji tried to get away, but he was held fast by the Hollow's hand. The copy of Zangetsu in the Hollow's hand began to change colors—the black part grew brighter while the white blade grew darker. The cloth surrounding the hilt darkened as well. He brought the newly-colored blade down on Shinji, who was unable to draw his sword or put on his mask because of his occupied hand.

The room was silent as Shinji's head rolled across the floor.

The Hollow grinned and turned on the others. "Well? You're not going to do anything? I just killed your best friend. Now, give me the fight of my life!" The rest were still petrified with shock. The mask on Ichigo's face was now three-fourths of the way complete, as the man pointed to Hiyori. "That was a nice idea you had—ripping off his head. You're the reason he doesn't have it anymore."

Hiyori began to tense, and clenched her sword. Love, Kensei, Lisa, and Rose followed suit. Mashiro had a look on her face that was not at all befitting of her personality. Hachi began to murmur a chant, barely audible. The Hollow smiled and waggled a finger. "Tsk, tsk, tsk! Seven on one isn't fair."

Kensei replied. "Neither was what you did to Shinji. You didn't even allow him to draw his sword. Hardly an honorable fight."

The Hollow laughed, and Rose raised an eyebrow, completely drawing his sword. "What's so funny?"

Hollow Ichigo lowered his head as the mask completed itself. "Nothing. You just never let me finish. I said this fight was unfair—I never said for who." He laughed again, and shouted, "Bankai! Tensa Zangetsu!" A cloud of dust erupted from his feet, engulfing his body. When it cleared, He was wearing a white Bankai robe, the same one he had worn when fighting Ichigo in the Inner World. His daiko was still black, though.

The Hollow quickly rushed towards the group , who barely got their swords out in time to parry. "Getsuga…" All four of the group swung in unison, attacking, but the Hollow had already moved. "TENSHO!" The attack came from behind, creating a giant cloud as it hit. The Hollow frowned. "That's a cheap trick, Hachigen. A barrier is a cop-out for those who can't dodge themselves. They need to fight me themselves."

And indeed, Hachi had saved the group's lives. The Vizard knew now that if they didn't take him seriously, they wouldn't win. "Smash!" "Crush Down!" "Play!" "Blast Away!" "Chop Cleanly!"

Hollow Ichigo sighed. "They just won't learn…"

"Haguro Tonbo!"

"Tengumaru!"

"Kinshara!"

"Tachikaze!"

"Kubikiri Orochi!"

The five zanpakuto were released; Mashiro opted to pull her mask on from the very start instead of bothering with a sword. The Hollow sighed. "I said that to beat me…"

The Hollow let loose a Getsuga, purposely aiming so that the attack threw up a dust cloud that enveloped the Vizard. "You need your full strength!" Hollow Ichigo quickly began charging a Cero. He laughed as it reached full strength, then he released it directly towards the Vizard. The ground exploded beneath the combatants, and they all flew back, sustaining a small amount of damage. Lisa bounced directly off a rock structure, swinging her staff at the Hollow, who sidestepped and grabbed her arm, swinging her down towards the ground. He then threw up his arm behind his back, catching Kubikiri Orochi as Hiyori swung from behind. With his other arm, he launched a Getsuga Tensho at the ground, knocking the remaining Vizard back off balance.

He then continued the swing of the sword after the attack was released to hit Hiyori, who then fell down, sliced in the chest. The Hollow screeched in joy and launched himself at Rose, whose eyes widened as he was caught off balance. Only the quickness and flexibility of Kinshara saved his life; the piano-like blade flexed to deflect the daiko to his cheek slicing it wide open. Then, the Hollow blurred out of existence, leaving Love to accidentally smash Tengumaru into his own ally. Love was then treated to a sword through the stomach.

The Hollow landed in the center of all the fighters, with Hachi, Hiyori, Lisa, Kensei, and Mashiro standing. Hiyori, though, was bleeding profusely, and was barely on her feet. Mashiro ran at the Hollow, as well as Kensei. The pair aimed a kick and a punch at the Hollow, respectively. The Hollow merely ducked down, and Tachikaze, accidentally sliced Mashiro's leg. Mashiro whimpered, and her hesitance was rewarded by a kick to the mask, sending her backwards and shattering the source of Mashiro's power. The green-haired woman was left unconscious.

Lisa began to charge, but Kensei held her back. "Bankai. Tekken Tachikaze," he said. The combat knife in his hand released a gust of wind that enveloped Kensei. When it cleared, Kensei was wearing an outfit consisting of purple strips of cloth, purple vest, and what looked like a dragon fin was arcing between his shoulders, connecting them. He was holding two sharpened Brass knuckles. "Lisa, Hiyori, stay back. He delights in making us hurt each other."

Lisa hesitantly sealed her zanpakuto, but Hiyori charged at the same time as Kensei. "LIKE HELL, KENSEI! THIS BALDY IS MINE!" Unfortunately for her, Kensei had released a vortex of wind like a sideways tornado, and Hiyori got in the way. Hiyori screamed as the tornado sliced through her in several spots, and the weakened vortex barely scratched the Hollow. Hiyori collapsed and convulsed, and Kensei growled in annoyance.

The Hollow chuckled. "I didn't even have to provoke you into hurting yourselves for this one, did I? Pathetic."

Kensei smirked and pointed behind the Hollow to where Hachi was standing, wearing his mask. "Bakudo Number 99 Part One! Kin!" Hachi released the spell, and instantly felt the drain on his energy. Hollow Ichigo jumped out of the way as black cords of leather sprung from the ground, attempting to wrap him in a blanket of death.

Hachi pressed his fingers together harder, expending even more reiatsu in an attempt to tie down the rampant hollow. It was hard for him to use this variant of the spell that he had created; manipulation of this particular kido wasn't natural. It was meant to seal a target, not defeat one, so moving the cords to chase after a victim was difficult, to say the least.

Hollow Ichigo was laughing until one of the cords that was chasing him caught his ankle, pulling him to the ground. He struggled for the longest time, arms restrained behind his back by even more cords of spirit fabric, and Hachi's mask cracked a little. He thought about how the irresponsible usage of the spell would definitely kill him if he didn't finish it quickly enough.

"Bakudo Number 99 Part Two!" He shouted. "First Song!" The fabric restraining Hollow Ichigo's body pulled him to the ground, and covered him completely.

Hachi's mask cracked some more. The Hollow still hadn't given in to the spell, and it was getting hard to stand. "Second Song!" He shouted, and a rain of metal bolts fell from the sky, stabbing into the fabric. Hachi fell to his knees. The Hollow STILL wasn't done fighting the kido? How was he able to resist a spell of this caliber so easily?

Hachi's mask cracked completely off just as the words, "Final Song!" left his mouth. The metal cube materialized, and began to fall on top of the Hollow, but it was weak. Hachi had indeed completed the spell, but he had no energy left to spare. He wasn't able to hold the Hollow down and complete the cube of metal at the same time, so Hollow Ichigo ripped his way out of the fabric just as the cube began to fall. Then, the cube crushed him; it appeared that he hadn't dodged in time.

Kensei sealed his sword completely. "Good job, Hachi," he complemented the unconscious kido-master. Then a chop to the neck from behind subdued the Captain, and Lisa fell in a similar manner. It appeared that the Hollow HAD been able to dodge after all; he had broken free of the fabric quick enough to escape.

It had been seven against one, and the one had won.

Hollow Ichigo allowed the mask on his face to shatter. The only way anyone would be able to tell the difference between him and his horse would be to look at his eyes—they were still golden, despite the lack of a mask. He returned to his Shikai state, and his Shihakusho reverted to the normal black. "Well, that was satisfying," he said to nobody in particular. "But the whole deal with this one," he kicked Hachi's prone figure, "was a little too close for my liking. Note to self: avoid kido masters at all costs."

Then, the Hollow extended his reiatsu-sensing abilities to feel the surrounding environment and consequently felt Inoue Orihime's reiatsu signature entering the warehouse from above. "Ah, this is just too perfect!" He turned towards the stairs to the upper warehouse just as Inoue began to walk down. He sonido'd over, catching the woman off-guard. He made sure his eyes were closed.

"Ichigo!" Orihime said in relief. "I didn't know where you were, I thought you were in trouble! I'm so glad you aren't—"

"Dead?" The Hollow finished the sentence for her. He opened his eyes, and listened to her scream as she turned and fled. The Hollow laughed and called after her. "Run, Woman! Tell Ichigo's friends that a new king has been crowned!"

_**End of Chapter**_

_**Well, what do you guys think? Now I know I'm going to get someone complaining about Hollow Ichigo's insane new power, but think about it. At this point in time, Hollow Ichigo and Zangetsu are one and the same. Therefore, Hollow Ichigo is free to draw upon Zangetsu's power whenever he wants. Hollow Ichigo is slightly stronger than Ichigo (in this story, at least), meaning that he is stronger than a captain—Because Ichigo has already defeated both Kenpachi and Byukuya at this point in time, he's definitely stronger than a captain. When you put the two halves of Zangetsu together to double his power, then add Ichigo's own, you get a being three times as strong as Ichigo all on his own.**_

_**Also, I kinda made the Vizard incompetent as strategists for the sake of the story; I didn't want Hollow Ichigo defeated in the first chapter! I have an idea of where I want this to go already, and I don't want him to be so easily taken care of.**_

_**Reviews welcome, critics even more so! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**_


	2. Public Announcement

The Vizard began to stir. "Wha…?" Love grumbled. "What happened?"

"We got careless, that's what," replied a groggy Hiyori.

Mashiro was the next one to awaken, and she did so with vigor. "Mashiro-time!" She blinked. "Where's Berry-tan?"

Love got an angry look on his face. "Dead. His Hollow won, remember? Or did you hit your head harder than we thought?"

Mashiro's pursed her lips. "Well, if he attacked us, why didn't Shin…" She trailed off, remembering the events of what was probably about three hours ago. Her eyes began to water, and she ducked down in a corner, whimpering. The room was silent for the next few minutes.

Kensei's eyes shot open when he woke up. "THAT BASTARD!" He roared. "WHERE IS HE? I'll KILL HIM FOR WHAT HE DID TO SHINJI!" Everyone who was already awake jumped in surprise.

His screams brought Lisa, Hachi, and Rose back to consciousness. Hiyori snarled at him. "Baldy, you can't beat him yourself! You'd need my help!"

"Not just her help," Rose said, "but everyone's. This guy is as strong as me, Love, and Kensei combined. Because Love and I didn't release our Bankai, he won."

Kensei murmured furiously, "I was the only one who realized how serious this guy was. I can't blame you for Shinji, but you guys are the reason he got away."

Lisa shifted her glasses. "It's not like you to blame others, Kensei. We need to think of a strategy."

Kensei turned on Lisa. "I'm not blaming them, I'm saying it how it is! If they had released their Bankai, we could've won! And you!" He turned on the rest. "All of you should've put on your masks like Mashiro did! What, did you think we could win with only our numbers? NO! We've got strength, so we need to USE it! What good is our power if we don't use it?!"

Love began to acknowledge, but Hiyori cut him off. "And what do you expect me to do? Maybe you haven't noticed, but I ain't got a Bankai! My mask can only be held for thirty seconds, anyways!"

Kensei forced himself to not grab her by the throat. "And those thirty seconds could've won us the battle… _Baldy_." He spat her own insult back into her face, turning away.

Lisa, as always, was the voice of reason. "Everyone, listen! We need to keep calm. "Obviously, Shinji's…" She faltered. "Shinji's death is affecting us. We need a strategy to defeat the Hollow that took over Ichigo."

Everyone was silent except Hiyori. "I'll tell you what I'll do! I'll bury Orochi's fangs in his neck, that's what!"

Rose murmured his agreement, surprising everyone with his desire for violence. Normally, Rose would agree with the most artistic path, regardless of whether it was violent or not. Revenge was usually last on his list of artful things. It served as a jolt to all the Vizard, highlighting how deeply the cut in their emotions matched the cut in Shinji's neck.

Love nodded as well, and that left only Hachi and Mashiro undecided, the former of which was still unconscious, the latter of which was still crying in the corner.

"So it's decided. We'll analyze the facts and form a strategy based off of that.," continued Lisa. "Here's the facts: That Hollow is a bloodthirsty monster with the strength of three captains. He's probably out devouring humans as we speak…"

* * *

"Man, this ramen is delicious!" The bloodthirsty hollow laughed, yet normally rather than manically. He was eating at a restaurant, still without a body, enjoying his first meal. "I know what it tastes like cause of the Horse's memories, but I can't stop enjoying food on my tongue!" Of course, nobody could see The Hollow, so it looked like a bowl of ramen was levitating in the air, with the contents of the bowl disappearing into thin air.

The Hollow was currently the only non-employee in the restaurant; everyone else had fled from the "ghost." The Hollow had laughed when the people fled, and had begun helping himself to their unfinished bowls. In fact, he was surprised to find that actual food was great for restoring reiatsu; much better than reishi.

The owner of this particular ramen shop tentatively stepped out from behind the counter. "Um, excuse me? Mr. Ghost?"

The Hollow paid no attention. After all, the owner couldn't even see him. He tilted his bowl up, slurping the last of the ramen. Maybe if he ignored the human, he would go away. He set down his bowl, but this just seemed to make the human think he was paying attention. "Um, Ghost-san? Hey, can you, um, maybe find it in your heart to…"

The Hollow sighed and let his reiatsu flare only slightly, forcing the shopkeeper to his knees. "I don't listen to orders from anyone. Not even if they ask nicely," he said, acting annoyed.

"Don't kill me!" The man screeched. "I'll let you eat free here forever!"

The Hollow considered it. "Forever? Well, your ramen IS pretty good, but I wanna try different kinds. Thanks, but no thanks." The Hollow stood, pushing back the stool he was siting on. The shopkeeper was scared out of his mind, but looked otherwise unharmed.

"Ghost? Are you still there?"

The Hollow was almost to the door, but decided to leave the man with one final scare. He got really close to the man, tapped him on the shoulder, let loose an icy breath on his neck, and walked out the door. The man was left huddled on the ground, shivering. Later, he was admitted to psychiatric therapy for his newfound paranoia.

The encounter left Hollow Ichigo laughing with glee. "Oh, man, that guy was too easy!" The Hollow laughed for a few minutes before he calmed himself. "Now, what do to…?" The Hollow, amazingly, found himself at a loss. He already knew what the king—sorry, horse—did on a regular basis, but found it as boring as dog shit. Then, he got an idea; possibly the best idea he had ever had.

* * *

Inoue Orihime was running as fast as she could, scared out of her mind. Instead of going to Urahara's shop, where she knew she could get advice from Kisuke, not even to Ichigo's house to warn his family. Orihime ran straight to her own house, locked the door, and ran to her room, "What was wrong with Kurosaki-kun…?" She whispered, horrified. She broke out into a cold sweat. _He looked like Kurosaki-kun, but the reiatsu felt off. _Orihime knew that it wasn't just the dark, ominous feeling that set her off. She just didn't want to know.

_Those eyes… _The eyes that reminded her of her brother. The brother that became a monster… _No! Nii-san wasn't a monster! And neither is Kurosaki-kun!_

Inoue began to cry. It seemed as if the world was collapsing around her. First was her brother, then Rukia-chan in the Soul Society, then Sado-kun's arm, and now this… Everything she knew was being turned on its head. Orihime cried for the next thirty minutes straight, wishing that Kurosaki-kun had never met Rukia-chan and that none of this had ever happened.

At the end of the half-hour, Inoue had only come to a single realization: She was helpless in her current state.

She would've descended into tears once more before, but a ringing sound made her jump with fear, barely suppressing a gasp. She walked downstairs, straightening her hair. Better not let anyone see her like this. She opened the door.

The monster was there. Orihime screeched and shouted, "Koten Zanshun!" trying to fire it at the devil who looked like Kurosaki-kun.

It was lucky for Kon that Tsubaki wasn't there, or he would've been split in half, killing Kurosaki's body and leaving the Mod Soul lying on the ground, helpless. Orihime breathed again. "Inoue-san?" The Mod Soul asked. "Are you ok?" Inoue stared for a second, seeing his brown eyes, the white sclera. "You weren't at school, Inoue, so I brought your homework home…" Inoue cried out before collapsing into him and breaking down into tears. Kon nearly jumped back out of surprise. "Inoue-san! What's wrong? Tell me!"

Inoue led Kon to the bedroom to talk, and managed to choke out the story between sobs. "And-And then, y-you showed up!" She cried.

Kon nodded sympathetically. "I understand. I'm no stranger to souls being forced out of bodies. What it sounds like is that another soul other than me managed to exorcise Ichigo's soul from his soul, if that makes sense. At points, I've felt Ichigo's reiatsu darken. Maybe that dark force has pushed Ichigo out, making two separate souls—a Shinigami Ichigo and a Hollow Ichigo."

Orihime shook her head. "No, I would be able to sense him if he were still alive. He's gone!" She burst into tears again.

Kon patted her on the back. "The best thing we can do is call Rukia and Renji, and met them at the shop. We need to talk to Clogs about this one. He seems to know everything about Hollows."

Inoue nodded and began to dial up Rukia on her phone. She didn't answer. Neither did Renji. Orihime and Kon set out for the shop alone.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Orihime, Rukia and Renji were in the middle of a meeting with all the Shinigami who had been dispatched to the World of the Living to prepare for the Winter War. The hollow had flared his reiatsu to scare the shopkeeper and everyone in the room had felt it. "A Hollow?" Hitsugaya asked, perking up. "At this time?"

Ayasegawa closed his eyes. "My, my. That's a beautiful reiatsu signature it has. It's a shame it has to die."

Renji was already out of his Gigai and halfway out the window. "Well, let's go before it has anymore opportunities to flare its reiatsu."

Rukia frowned. "I don't like this. Something feels off, I just can't put my finger on it…"

Matsumoto grabbed Rukia around the waist in comradeship. "Well if you can't place it, it's probably not urgent. Right, Captain?" Toshiro didn't even grace her question with an answer.

Ikkaku Madarame was also out of his Gigai. "Mind if I come along?"

Renji shook his head. "Nah, Rukia and I got this one. You guys need to talk strategies. I was never good at that stuff. Come on, Rukia!"

Madarame sat down, grumbling. "I should at least get to slice off its arm…"

Rukia then realized what was off—Hollows COULDN'T flare their reiatsu; it was always set at a singular level. "This reeks of Aizen," she muttered, joining Renji. Ironically, this was probably the only situation in the entire month that wasn't influenced by Aizen. The two began to run towards downtown Karakura Town.

* * *

A knocking at the front door of the shop brought a cheerful Urahara Kisuke to the door. "Hello, Kon! Hello, Inoue-san! I've been expecting you!"

Kon was startled. "You have? How could you possibly know?"

Kisuke waved his hand. "With the war coming up, I knew you two would come to me for help in training. But please, come in. I need to—"

"That's not why we're here," Inoue interrupted. "We're here about Kurosaki-kun."

Urahara's face darkened. "Come in, now."

After the trio was seated, and the other three inhabitants of the store dismissed, Urahara turned towards Inoue. "Now, what's wrong with Kurosaki-san?"

Kon started. "Well, I—"

"From Orihime-san. She was there firsthand. I'm sorry, Kon, but right now, you're not important."

Kon put his head on the table. "As if I ever was…"

Urahara waved his fan. "Don't be angry, Kon. You used to be important!"

Kon just moaned some more. Inoue began. "Well, I was looking for Kurosaki because he hasn't been in his own body for some time, and traced his reiatsu to some old warehouse with a barrier around it."

Urahara looked interested for a moment, but instantly reverted back to his serious-looking self—you know, whenever he decides to get serious. "Continue, Orihime."

"Well, I entered the warehouse and felt a small surge of power, as if someone had just woken up. I looked around for whoever it was, and saw stairs leading downward in the corner. I was about to go down and see what was there, when Ichigo shunpo'd in front of me. I was happy to see him, until.. Until.." Orihime began to tremble. "The eyes," she whispered, finishing the thought.

Urahara nodded. "I think I know what's going on. Kurosaki-san had a hollow's eyes, didn't he?" Irihime nodded. "And his reiatsu felt like a hollow's?" Orihime nodded again. Urahara looked angry. "Impossible," he muttered, his tone of voice matching his emotions. "He wasn't supposed to be able to get that strong."

Kon looked up. "Clogs, what are you talking about?"

Urahara looked solemn. "Kurosaki never told you the story of how he regained his Shinigami powers, did he?"

* * *

Rukia and Renji arrived at the place where the hollow had last been reported. There was not a single trace of reiatsu, and no signs of destruction. "Hah?" Renji asked. "Rukia, what's up with this? I thought there was a hollow here?"

Rukia nodded. "There was… I think Aizen has something to do with it. There's no other explanation for what has happened. I mean, a hollow comes and leaves a place exactly how it found it. That's not normal."

Renji yawned. "What's normal these days? Honestly, normal seems to have gone out the window. I'm just saying that I want something to sink Zabimaru's fangs into. I haven't fought anything in too long."

Rukia glanced over. "What about your training with Chad?"

"That's just training. I mean a real fight to the death. One that I can bloody my hands with."

Rukia stole a glance at him. "Are you sure you don't want to be in Squad Eleven?"

At that point, a familiar reiatsu appeared, along with the accompanying soul. "Oi, what's going on here?"

The pair of Shinigami looked at the source of the voice. "Ichigo!" Rukia said excitedly. The sun was to Ichigo's back, so Rukia could only see a silhouette.

Renji laughed. "Ichigo, where've you been, dude? I need a good training partner. Chad isn't doing it for me; he's not on your level yet."

Ichigo gave a small laugh. "Well, that's Chad. He's strong, but he's barely Vice-Captain level."

Rukia knew something was off. "Ichigo, how could you say something about Chad like that?!"

Ichigo closed the gap between them, eyes closed. "Well, it's true. I HOPE he gets stronger."

Rukia began to feel uneasy. "Ichigo, did you know there was a hollow here not too long ago?"

Ichigo continued as if he had never heard Rukia. "If he DOES get stronger…" He opened his eyes and let his reiatsu rise to full power and density. "He might be worth killing!" He unwrapped Zangetsu and brought it down. Rukia barely moved out of the way in time. In fact, if she hadn't picked up on his remark about Chad earlier, she wouldn't have been on guard and would've died.

Even as it was, Rukia was already having horrible flashbacks. While she was paralyzed with fear, Renji was left to take action. He drew Zabimaru. "Who are you, and what have you done with Ichigo's soul?"

The hollow allowed his mask to begin formation, as he did before most fights. "I have no name. And I'm a little confused cause of your question. Ichigo doesn't HAVE a soul anymore. His soul is MINE!"

Renji growled. "Roar, Zabimaru!" The sword glowed red and grew, forming the familiar extending blade.

The Hollow laughed. "Geez, you think you're so cool with your red hair… Pineapple."

Renji took a fighting stance. "Only Ichigo can call me that, you monster. And who are you to take control of his soul?"

The Hollow laughed and the blade of Zangetsu began to glow blue. "Who am I to control the horse?" He raised the cleaver above his head. "I'm the KING! Getsuga Tensho!" He laughed insanely and drew down the sword, beginning the fight with a bang.

Renji jumped back, grabbing Rukia. "Rukia, MOVE!" and indeed, the pipsqueak-sized Shinigami was still frozen, reliving the events of the night of Kaien-dono's death. The black, blue-outlined crescent slammed into the ground only half a second after the pair was moved.

The crash was enough to jolt Rukia back to reality. She drew Sode no Shirayuki, but hesitated to release it. "If I fight…" _Then Ichigo will die_.

The Hollow taunted her. "What's wrong, pipsqueak? You scared to hurt your friends?"

Renji was the only one who knew how personal that comment was to Rukia. He immediately set her down and held Zabimaru to the sky. "Bankai."

The Hollow laughed. "Now you're talking!" He braced his right arm with his left. "Bankai!"

"Hihio Zabimaru!"

"Tensa Zangetsu!"

The pair began to fight.

"…And that's why Kurosaki-san has a hollow inside of him," finished Urahara.

Kon frowned. "But now it's taken over his body. How is that even possible?"

Urahara replied, "A similar event happened with me one hundred years ago. In that case, I was able to cure the people who had been taken over by hollows."

Kon stood up. "Great! Where's that miracle cure right now?"

Kisuke looked sour. "Aizen is using it to make Arrancar."

Kon sat down, dejected. Orihime butted in. "Is there any hope that we can save Kurosaki-kun?"

Urahara was silent for a moment, as if thinking. "The only way to save Kurosaki-san is to weaken the Hollow to the point where Kurosaki has more reiatsu. But from what I can guess, The Hollow actually killed him inside his own inner world. Kurosaki only exists because his Inner Hollow exists; he has no more reiatsu or life force of his own."

Orihime gasped. "So to save Kurosaki-kun…"

"We have to kill him," Kon finished.

_**END OF CHAPTER!**_

_**Ok, first order of business, responding to my reviewers:**_

_**JanusTheUnlucky7 – Thanks for the review; I share that sentiment—he only gets shown in the manga on three separate occasions, and (I think) five in the anime. For a main character, that's not nearly enough involvement.**_

_**keitoz – Thanks! I'm always a little critical of myself, so I need encouragement like that. To be honest, I thought I screwed it up completely when I had Shinji shake the Hollow's hand—too trusting. But it's good to know that some people support that decision (even if he was your favorite :) ).**_

_**Now, tell me what you think, PLEASE! I love the immediate response I got, but I need more than just two reviewers per chapter! It'll make me happy, and I'll give you guys virtual cookies! That's worth a review, right?**_

_**Anyways, I purposely let the fight between Ichigo and Renji wait—It would make the chapter too long. I needed to cut it short, and that was the best moment I could come up with.**_

_**Reviews welcome, critics even more so! Thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter.**_


	3. A Minor Explanation

_**Ok, real quick before we start—everyone who feels inclined to Follow/Alert this story (I'm not asking you to, but if you were going to do so already), also add it to your favorites. It broadcasts my story to your fan base as well as my own [limited] fan base, helping me out a lot. You don't even need to write a review, even though that would help a lot as well…**_

_**Also, sorry it's been so long since my last update—I'm going to blame a combination of Halo 4, Assassin's Creed 3, and Pokemon White 2. Seriously, video game season has arrived—all three of them are great games.**_

"So to save Kurosaki-kun…" Orihime whispered.

"We have to kill him," Kon finished.

"Precisely," The shopkeeper confirmed. "Unless we can retrieve the Hogyoku from Aizen and heal him, Kurosaki-san must die. And if my guess is correct—which it usually is—we won't be able to do that until the war is over and we take it from Aizen's cold dead hands. By that point, there's no telling how far gone Kurosaki-san may be."

Orihime stood. "Fine. I want to fight, then."

Kon pulled her back down. "Inoue-san, do you know what you're saying? You're thinking about fighting against powerful, Captain-class Hollows with Shinigami powers!"

Orihime was tearing up again. "I don't care! Kurosaki can't die!" She sniffed.

Urahara put on his impassive face—which seemed to be his favorite emotion of the day. "You're not strong enough, Orihime-san," he said bluntly.

Orihime turned on the former captain. "What are you talking about?! I don't want Kruosaki-kun to die, and I'll go to the ends of the earth to make sure it doesn't happen!"

Urahara lowered his hat to cover his eyes. "That's funny. I think Kurosaki-san would say the same as you if your positions were reversed. And you going into battle without Tsubaki is so obviously suicide."

Orihime was not done arguing. "But I still have the rest of the Shun Shun Rikka. I can protect and heal!"

"Not as well or fast as the Fourth Division. I'm sorry Inoue-san, but at your current power level, you cannot hope to fight. I will not allow it."

Orihime wiped her eyes. "Fine. Then I'll get stronger. I'll show you that I can be useful to Kurosaki-kun! I'll take the Hogyoku from Aizen himself if I have to, if it will bring back Kurosaki-kun!"

Urahara frowned. "It's not that simple, Inoue-san. The only place that you can effectively train is the Soul Society, because you can learn how to heal from Captain Unohana."

Inoue nodded. "Ok then, I'm going to the Soul Society. I'm going to get stronger, and I'm going to defeat Aizen so I can use the Hogyoku to save Kurosaki-kun!"

Urahara waved his fan and smiled. "Well, if that's how you feel, Inoue-san, I am powerless to stop you. After all, I am only a humble and handsome candy shop owner."

Kon slammed his hand on the table. "Bullshit! And who is going to take Inoue-san to the Soul Society? I say that you have no intention of bringing her back here when the battle starts! My own ideals might match up with your own regarding what happens to her, but even I recognize that you have to be straightforward with her!"

Urahara waved a hand in nonchalance. "Don't worry, Kon. You can go with her. After all, what good would it do to save Kurosaki-san if he didn't have a body to come back to? If you go to Soul Society with Inoue-san, you'll be playing a big part just by waiting for it to all be over!" Urahara's grin widened. "And, you'll be all alone with Inoue-san."

Kon stopped his rant and seriously considered it. '_Actually, that's a pretty good offer. Me, alone with Inoue…' _visions of him nestled in her ample bosom were already filling his head. He pretended to look unsure. "Alright, Clogs. If you say we have to! Now, open a Senkaimon for us!"

Urahara laughed. "My, my, Kon! You must be patient! I have to inform the others of your departure. You must wait here until I get back, ok?"

Orihime was silent, thinking about whether she really could save Kurosaki-kun if she increased her abilities. _'Is he really that far gone? No… I have to believe in Kurosaki-kun!'_ She nearly smiled despite her growing pains; less than a year ago, she had been scared of Kurosaki-kun. Now, she couldn't bear the thought of him being taken away from her. _'Please wait, Kurosaki-kun. This time, I'll be the one saving you.'_

* * *

Black steel smashed against beige-colored bone. "Not bad, for a Hollow!" Renji taunted as a lull in the battle ensued. "You sure you aren't just Ichigo having fun with me?"

The Hollow laughed from behind his fully formed mask. "Don't you dare compare me to that guy in terms of power! But you are right in one aspect!"

Renji raised the giant, bonelike snake to block a blow from Tensa Zangetsu. "Oh? And what's that?"

The Hollow grinned. "I HAVE been toying with you." The Hollow raised his pointer and middle fingers, held them rigidly pointing at Renji. "If you're smarter than the idiot at all, you know what I'm about to do." An orb of red energy gathered at Hollow Ichigo's fingers. Renji scoffed and raised Hihio Zabimaru in response. "Two can play at that game!" A similar orb began to gather itself at the sword's teeth. "Hikotsu Taiho!" The orb fired from the jaws of the snake, on a direct course to the Hollow.

The Hollow grinned, but nobody could see his expression from behind his mask. "Cero." The beam fired, easily overpowering the condensed orb of reiatsu. Renji's Bankai shattered, with each link in the bone-chain falling to the ground. Renji appeared to be waiting for something. The Hollow snickered, and lowered his fingers. "You know, I'm not falling for that trick. I was there when you perfected it."

Renji scowled. "You're lying. Only Ichigo—"

"Only Ichigo was there when you first achieved Bankai, I know!" The Hollow was irritated. "Honestly, you're not that dense, are you? I'm PART of Ichigo! I'm his Hollow persona! I have all of his memories! If Ichigo's seen it, so have I!"

Renji raised the hilt of his sword, and the individual links of the chain in his Bankai reattached. "Alright then, you know that Ichigo has never beat me since I achieved Bankai!"

The Hollow narrowed his eyes. "Che. You haven't fought Ichigo since obtaining Bankai in the first place. And you keep overlooking one fact." The Hollow lowered his head. "I'M NOT ICHIGO!" The Hollow let loose a Getsuga Tensho without saying the name. Renji was barely able to move out of the way in time.

The explosion was large enough to reduce the entire street to rubble; creating a veritable battleground for the Shinigami and the Hollow. Renji clenched a fist. "You bastard! There could've been humans around!"

The Hollow raised his head arrogantly. "You think I didn't scan for reiatsu first? Pathetic. You're all idiots."

Renji growled and turned to Rukia. "Oi, Rukia! Go warn the others! I'll wrap things up here!"

Rukia, who had been watching from the sidelines hesitated, then nodded. She figured that she couldn't do any good just by watching the fight, anyways. "Fine."

The Hollow stood still and watched as the petite Shinigami disappeared with a shunpo. Renji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Going to let her leave? I guess you were nervous that she would join the fight and then you'd be done!"

The Hollow laughed. "Don't be silly. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead by now. You can't even put up a good fight."

Renji's Bankai hissed, as did the wielder. "What did you say to me, Hollow? Come over here and I'll SHOW you—"

"It's not an insult, idiot. You're fighting at twenty percent power right now. You told that to Ichigo when you two first met. You can't win. I've been holding back, too, you know. I'm using roughly ten percent of my power right now."

Renji took an instinctive step back. "Liar. Ichigo and I are matched."

The Hollow shouted in rage. "I'M NOT ICHIGO!" The Hollow sonido'd all the way across the crater, and laughed. "You see? I'm lightening my blows; using only twenty-five percent of my power right now! And you can't do anything!" The Hollow began to use close-ranged blows to pressure Renji into backing up. "This is your weakness! Your Bankai can't do anything in close quarters!" The Hollow laughed again. "I can smell your fear, Pineapple! Hollows like myself LOVE that smell!"

Renji was sidestepping as fast as he could. He jumped, ducked, and whirled, trying with all his power to dodge. The Hollow was right; Hihio Zabimaru could do nothing close-quarters. Renji cursed; the cramped quarters that the Hollow was forcing him to fight in were bad. Actually, it was less like a fight and more like a dance, as the Hollow thrust Tensa Zangetsu at him. Renji couldn't bring Hihio Zabimaru into any blocking position; he was too slow to match Ichigo's speed-based Bankai. There was only one course of action.

Renji shunpo'd back five feet to buy just a second, and in that second, the giant monster of a snake disappeared, and the sword reverted to its Shikai state. He was now able to fight his foe in close quarters. The Hollow laughed. "Nice try, Abarai! But you've only made yourself weaker!"

Renji laughed in return. "That may be so in terms of power, but my endurance and maneuverability have only risen with my Shikai. I'm faster and more adaptable than I am with my Bankai, even if I have a little less power."

The Hollow nodded. "I get it." He reverted back to his cleaver. "If you refuse to fight at full power, I'm gonna hold back as well."

Renji retorted, "I thought you already were holding back."

"I was."

The two returned to clashing against each other. Renji growled. "Fight me using your full power so that I feel satisfied when I kill you, Hollow! Either that, or give back Ichigo!"

The Hollow made a noise that sounded annoyed from behind his mask. "Idiot, if I used my full strength while you're limited to twenty percent, you'd be dead long ago!"

Renji cursed. "Fine. Doesn't matter. Fight me as it is. It doesn't matter, but I will defeat you and force you to give back my best friend!"

The Hollow paused in his attacks. "BEST friend, is it? I didn't know that Ichigo was so important to you." He jumped back and allowed the mask on his face to shatter. "Alright then, I'll fight you as if I were Ichigo—no Hollow powers."

Renji was taken aback. "Wha?"

The Hollow snickered; his facial expressions were now too obvious. "You didn't even realize it, did you? I haven't got a scratch on me, despite our fight! Anything you've been doing has been negated by my instant regeneration! As long as I have my full mask on, it's easier for me to use my natural abilities. As you just saw, I just shattered my mask. Now, I'm more Shinigami than Hollow."

Renji smiled. "Good, I believe in fair fights."

The Hollow grinned and chuckled. "Who said anything about fair? Getsuga Tensho!" The black crescent with a blue edge slammed into Zabimaru.

Renji's eyes widened. '_This…_ _This is not a normal Getsuga. I've been on the receiving end of many of these before, and this is at least twice as powerful… This is meant to finish the fight.'_

The Hollow pushed only a small amount of additional reiatsu into the attack. "Renji, it's been fun. You're not the one to defeat me, I can tell!"

Renji shouted in determination. "I will not lose to a Hollow who killed my best friend!" Right as he said those words, Zabimaru snapped in half from the strain of blocking an attack. It was one that Renji's Bankai could've stopped with ease, but one that his Shikai could not handle. Renji tried to jump, but the close quarters made it difficult. Renji only partially dodged, and the attack sliced halfway through his legs. Renji cried out in pain.

The Hollow walked up to Renji and picked up his prone figure by the hair, forcing Renji to look right at him. "You won't lose to a Hollow? I'm afraid you already did." Renji spat and scrambled to grab Zabimaru's hilt—Even though the blade was gone, he wanted to know something was in his hand. The Hollow stomped on said hand. "I'm not here to kill you, Abarai! I came here to fight you, to understand where I stand compared to Ichigo's friends!" The Hollow made direct eye contact, and a shiver went down Renji's spine. "That last blast was at thirty percent power. I know you're limited to twenty, but if we're equal, like you say, then your sword shouldn't have snapped against an attack as weak as that one."

Renji cursed and spat in the Hollow's face. "I don't want your pity. Kill me and be over with it."

The Hollow ground his heel into Renji's hand. Bones cracked. "Listen, Pineapple! I don't think you heard me. I'm here to FIGHT. The only time I kill is when I stand to gain from it. What would I gain by killing you? Nothing! This fight was a test. I needed to know where I was relative to others who were supposedly the same strength as me. It seems the power of a team is stronger than the power of one."

Renji's eyes widened at the implications of the simple phrase. "You… working as a team?"

The Hollow ignored him. "I could heal you, if you'd like." Ichigo's counterpart was looking directly into Renji's eyes, an eerie, even crazier-than-usual look on his face.

Renji spat again. "I don't trust you." But still, there was that niggling feeling of doubt in the back of Renji's mind, inspired by that simple phrase the Hollow had uttered mere moments ago.

The Hollow, without missing a beat, spat back. "Then look at it logically instead of emotionally! I don't want you dead, I want you to realize that I'm stronger than you! If you bleed out, who's going to attest to my strength? Surely not those idiotic Shinigami that Ichigo called his friends! No, I need a first-hand source that can say he's only alive because I feel like letting him. I want to be feared. I want to be strong. And most of all…" The Hollow paused for dramatic effect. "I want to be king."

Renji's vision began to swim as the blood poured out of his legs. The Hollow flipped him onto his back in order to reach the shins, which were nearly sliced off by the earlier Getsuga. "Yeah, look at this, Shinigami," The Hollow said. "If you don't let me help, you'll never walk again." The Hollow tapped the area of skin just above the gash, causing Renji to scream in pain. "You sure you don't want me to save your life? It WOULD—well—save your life."

Renji gasped as his blood loss reached a critical level. "I'd rather DIE than accept help from you, you bastard!"

The Hollow tsked. "You don't have a choice, Renji. You need to survive for me to succeed in scaring the others. And I also wouldn't be able to scare them if I didn't maim you. This is my only option if I'm to get the respect I need and want. Now, hold still…"

Renji tried to raise an arm in protest, but couldn't due to blood loss—he screamed as the golden-eyed man descended towards him.

* * *

The Vizard were not amused with the fight. They had been monitoring the action through the reiatsu that the fighters were radiating, so it was only natural to be angry when both signatures decreased by tenfold, taking the fight out of the range of detectability. "What are those Baldies thinking?" Hiyori shouted. "I don't know who that second guy is, but he's at least gotta be a captain! Why's he backing down?"

Rose smiled. "Perhaps he thought it was most artful?"

Kensei grunted. "Not everything is about art, Rose. Maybe it was the most combat-effective method."

Lisa nodded. "I concur with Kensei. There's no reason for him to lower his reiatsu otherwise."

Love was tapping his foot impatiently. "Well, what now? There's no more conflict for his to monitor, and we still have to do something about That Hollow."

Mashiro chimed in, "Yeah, we need to stop Hichigo!"

There was silence for a few minutes, until: "Who?" Hiyori asked, barely any emotion in her voice."

Mashiro put on a super-cheerful face. "We know that the person in Berry-tan's body is a Hollow, right?" Everyone nodded. "And Berry-tan's real name is Ichigo, right?" Everyone nodded. "So, if we put the "H" from Hollow in front of Ichigo, we get Hichigo!"

Another period of silence, then, "That is the stupidest name I've ever heard," Hiyori deadpanned.

Mashiro pouted. "But he needs a name, right? We can't just keep calling him "Hollow-Berry!"

Love cut in. "We haven't been calling him anything. And besides, anything is better than 'Hichigo.'"

Kensei was livid (again). "NO! That 'thing' doesn't even DESERVE a name, let alone a good one! IT KILLED SHINJI! And we let it go free into the world!"

There was silence once again. This time, it was Lisa who filled the gap. "Alright then, Kensei, Tell us what to do. We know that our main flaw last time was holding back, and we know that we need to coordinate our teamwork better. So, what's the best course of action? You seem to be pretty assertive now that… Now that you're the strongest among us."

Kensei narrowed his eyes. "That creature is a hollowfied Ichigo, so we need to know more about Hollowfication. We're going to Karakura Town. We need to talk to Urahara."

* * *

"...And that's the whole story!" Rukia exclaimed. She was back in Ichigo's bedroom, explaining what had happened to the other Shinigami.

Hitsugaya frowned. "That's unfortunate. Not only is it gong to be difficult to tell his family, but what are we going to do about his combat-prowess? We don't have enough men to cover all of Karakura Town, and I was hoping Kurosaki would help out. Now what?"

Ikkaku voiced a similar complaint. "Aw, I wanted to fight Ichigo again! It was really fun!"

Everyone else began to clamor for attention, until a sneeze from the windowsill outside silenced them. Standing in midair was Kisuke Urahara, smiling broadly at the group. "Oh? am I interrupting something?"

Rukia was frantic. "Urahara-san, Ichigo-"

"Has been taken over by his inner Hollow, I know." The grin remained on his face. "Inoue and Kon told me all about it. I'm sending them off to the Soul Society for their own safety. They need to be protected from the one person who swore to protect them."

Toshiro nodded. "That's a good precaution. Although, I can't say I enjoy the irony of the situation."

Urahara continued. "So, who wants to help me? I have a plan."

_**END OF CHAPTER**_

_**Well, let me know how it was! Come on, it only takes ten or so seconds! Grammar mistakes, plot holes, and the like—show all my mistakes to me! Anyways, I'm not sure what I can say… Oh, right! The comment replies!**_

_**Keitoz – Thanks! I kinda agree; I'm better with talking scenes than fighting scenes, but I'm not sure. How do you think I'm doing with the passive scenes?**_

_**JanusTheUnlucky7 – Yeah, I know, right? :) It really is.**_


	4. Drunk Matsumoto and Clever Kisuke

_**First thing's first; ten alerts, four favorites, and eight reviews. Thanks, guys (and gals)! After only three chapters, I have over 10k words, and this chapter is gonna catapult it to 15k (including Author's Notes :) ).  
So! Without further adieu, I give you… The story!**_

"So, do you want to know my plan?" Urahara smiled mysteriously at the ensemble. "I came here to inform you of the situation, but it appears the lovely Kuchiki-san beat me to it."

Matsumoto laid back, purposely trying to expose her cleavage. "Rukia isn't so lovely. You're just saying that to be polite. Besides, I bet she's still a virgin."

Rukia's face turned tomato-red for just a second, before angrily crying out, "And you've probably let everyone in the Seireitei have a little peek at you!"

Matsumoto winked. "That's a good thing, though, isn't it? It means I'm desirable. I bet even Captain's had a thought or two about me, am I right, Captain Hitsugaya?"

Toshiro's face turned purple, and he actually had to restrain himself from hitting his Vice-Captain. "Matsumoto, if you attempt to imply anything of that sort ever again, I will personally see to it that you are drowned in paperwork for the next century!"

Matsumoto shrank back a bit. "I was just trying to have a little fun. No need to get so sensitive, Captain…"

Ikkaku laughed a little. "Oi, you two, shut up. As entertaining as this is, I want to know about the little scheme this new guy's cooked up. If it has to do with fighting Ichigo, I'm all for it!"

Yumichika nodded in agreement. "I too would love to know about this plan Urahara-san has thought of. It seems to be more relevant than this ugly talk about physical stimuli, anyways."

Matsumoto nudged Ayasegawa. "I'd think that someone so obsessed over beauty as you would think this kind of talk is interesting."

Ayasegawa closed his eyes and smiled. "The true beauty of a person is the inability of someone else to equate to him or her. Physical desire is merely a way of conceding that someone else is just as beautiful as you. And since you so obviously enjoy the physical aspect of relationships…" The man trailed off, purposely leaving a provocative tone in his voice.

Matsumoto looked angry. "Are you implying something, feather-eye?"

Urahara coughed noisily, attempting to cut off the pair. "As much as I love hearing you people talk, I believe I have something I wish to tell you."

Matsumoto continued her fight with Ayasegawa, getting so loud that Hitsugaya had to glare daggers at his Vice to shut her up. As soon as everyone was quiet once more, he turned to the shopkeeper. "Please continue, Urahara-san. We're going to need all the manpower we can muster for the war, so it will be important to know how to retrieve Kurosaki's consciousness."

Urahara clapped. "Great! So it's decided! All of you come with me to my shop. I have something I want to show you there."

Most of the sitting Shinigami rose, ready to follow Urahara out the window, but Rukia was not so ready. "Urahara, I've went along with your plans before," she began, "but I know that your ideas tend to go awry. I need to know for certain that what you ask us to do will help us bring back Ichigo."

Urahara lowered his hat. "Nothing in this universe is guaranteed, Kuchiki-san. But I can tell you this: Our best chance of winning this war is to follow my lead." With that, Urahara climbed out the window and jumped out into the night. The Shinigami all followed his lead, but Rukia hesitated. She had caught on to his word choice.

_"Our best chance of winning this war is to follow my lead" _He had said nothing regarding Ichigo's safety.

* * *

Renji woke with a gasp. He was sweating profusely, rivulets of salty water running down his face. The last thing he had remembered was the Hollow with Ichigo's face bending over, getting closer to him. He pushed himself up with his arms and looked around, not daring to move or look at his legs. He was still in downtown Karakura Town. Renji breathed a sigh of relief—the Hollow had not abducted him or taken him anywhere while he was unconscious from blood loss.

Speaking of blood loss… Renji looked sharply down at his legs at once. They were completely healed; no sign of the giant gash that had cut through bone and muscle remained. Not even a scar was left. In fact, every last one of the cuts and bruises Renji had obtained during the fight was cured. "Hello?" Renji asked tentatively. "Is anybody there?"

There was no response. Renji stood, testing his newly repaired legs. He found that they could easily support his weight, and jumped up and down a few times to reaffirm their functionality. Renji looked around for Zabimaru's hilt; he nearly laughed when he found his zanpakuto safely in its sheath—it was sealed, but completely whole. The blade had been reattached to the hilt; Zabimaru was battle-ready. Renji looked around. "Now if only I could find that Hollow…" Renji cursed himself for being unconscious; the Hollow's reiatsu signature had all but faded. Or maybe he wasn't that good at finding reiatsu signatures in the first place. Either or.

Renji shrugged. "I need to go find the others," he said to nobody in particular. "Rukia's warned them, but it's best to travel as a group—less chance of ambush." As he got up, he thought he heard a voice.

"Hello?" He called out. Nothing. Renji looked around. He heard the whisper again. Then silence. He grabbed Zabimaru's hilt as a safeguard. "I don't know where you are," he called, "but know that I have a Bankai! And I'm not afraid to use it against anyone who gets in my way!"

Still nothing.

Renji didn't take his hands off Zabimaru for an instant. He was still riled up from the fight, and still on-guard. To any casual observers, though, it would just look like a standard case of paranoia. He slowly began to crouch, and jumped into the sky. He solidified the air underneath him for a moment using his reiatsu, and looked around. He was alone.

Satisfied, the spiky-haired Shinigami began to head to Ichigo's house, in hopes of finding someone to talk to.

* * *

Urahara smiled and made a small bow before opening the door to his shop. "I know you've all been here before when you first came to the Living World, but welcome to Urahara's candy shop, home of the most gracious and helpful employees in the world. Please, enter!"

The shopkeeper stepped to the side and opened the sliding door. The group was met by Tessai, who bowed and saluted. "Welcome back, owner! And welcome, Shinigami. Accommodations have already been made for our strategies meeting."

Toshiro frowned. "Accommodations? What are you talking about? Surely we only need a meeting room?"

Urahara smiled and produced his fan, waving himself. "My, my, you're an impatient one, Captain. I'm humbled that you care so much about my modest little idea."

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed, but he remained silent. Matsumoto, on the other hand, laughed. "Oooohh, he got you, Captain! What're you gonna do about it?"

"Matsumoto, are you drunk?" Ayasegawa raised a feathered eyebrow.

Mutsumoto laughed. "Oh, don't be silly. For that to be true, I'd have to have been drunk for the entire strategy meeting! And do you think I was drunk that whole time?"

The question remained unanswered, because at that time, Tessai ushered all of them into the shop by pushing from behind. Cries of outrage were heard as they were all unceremoniously shoved into the tiny, cramped quarters of the main store. Only once everyone was safely in the larger, back rooms of the shop did everyone rest comfortably.

Ikkaku shouted at Tessai when he was finally dumped into a sitting cushion in the back meeting room. "Oi, what're you doing? I'll kill you, you idiot! Nobody moves me around like that!"

Similar complaints were raised until Urahara walked into the room, holding what looked like a full-size body cutout with oddly shaped limbs and head. He plopped it down and smiled. He looked around, and waited for praise that obviously was not coming. "Well?" He asked.

"That's not very beautiful, Urahara-san," Ayasegawa said. "So disproportionate."

Matsumoto reluctantly agreed. "It's so… flat," she said, as if that summed up everything about the figure.

Toshiro merely raised an eyebrow.

Rukia, though, remembered hearing about something like this before. "Urahara, back when I was to be executed, Ichigo had Bankai. Yoruichi once mentioned that there was a device she used to help him achieve it. Is that…?"

Urahara nodded her off. "Yep, this is it. Allow me to introduce all of you to the Tenshintai. Tenshintai, this is everyone!" He laughed a little at his own joke.

Toshiro spoke. "This allowed Kurosaki to achieve Bankai in only three days? Interesting. So your plan is not to bring back Kurosaki, but enable us to win the war without him?"

"Close," a voice from just outside the door said. It was Yoruichi, in cat form. The cat walked in to the room, and sat down on Toshiro's lap. "The Tenshintai is a major risk. We wouldn't propose it merely for the enhanced power it grants the user."

"What's so risky about it?" Rukia asked, curious.

Urahara answered for her. "If you DON'T achieve Bankai within three days, then your tie to your zanpakuto will be severed, with no chance of reconciliation. As you probably know, a zanpakuto must be anchored to a plus soul to live. The combined strain of training so hard for three days straight and losing its host would cause a zanpakuto spirit to die within minutes of the bond being severed. In addition, you would cease to be a Shinigami, at least until a new, compatible spirit found you."

When Urahara stopped talking, Yoruichi added, "And think about how long you've been with your zanpakuto. To consider finding another is just abominable, a dishonor to the time you've spent with your first one."

Rukia looked somewhere between happy and annoyed. "That idiot, he risked his zanpakuto to save me, when I wasn't worth it…"

Ikkaku was sweating hard. "What would happen if someone who already has a Bankai were to use the Tenshintai?"

Urahara shrugged. "I don't know. All of my test subjects were low-seated officers who volunteered for the project. The only one who succeeded was promptly killed by the influx of his own power." Seeing the looks of horror on his audience's faces, he quickly added, "I assure you, every one of those test subjects volunteered themselves! And besides, Kurosaki-san survived, didn't he?"

With the Shinigami all moderately quelled, Yoruichi spoke again. "Our plan is not to increase your power to win the war, it's to increase your power to the point where you can defeat Ichigo's Hollow."

Urahara stood. "I think I'll leave everything else to Yoruichi here, while I go send off Orihime and Kon. They're waiting in the basement."

Rukia stood as well. "Wait, can I go with them? I want to go home and help Orihime train."

Urahara made a motion for Rukia to sit back down. "Inoue-san is training to heal and block. Your combat-based training is best focused towards learning Bankai."

Rukia was crestfallen. Secretly, she had been hoping to go not to help Orihime, but to avoid any confrontations with Ichigo. She would not be able to kill a close friend a second time…

Urahara waved and smiled. "Oh, come now. I'm going to send them off, and you're going to use the underground cavern to train for Bankai. I'll let Yoruichi fill you in on the details." With that, the handsome and humble former captain left the room, closing the door behind him.

Yoruichi chuckled a little, still sitting in Hitsugaya's lap. She then transformed, growing to human size and loosing all the fur she possessed in her cat form. Her skin turned a medium shade of brown, and her head-hair grew to a reasonable length and turned purple.

And, as per usual, she was stark naked. The look on Hitsugaya's face was priceless.

The diminutive captain's face turned as red as a tomato, he choked a little in surprise, and covered his eyes with his hands.

Ikkaku let out an appreciative wolf-whistle, Ayasegawa merely closed his eyes, and Rukia cast her gaze to the floor. Matsumoto let out a shrill laugh, not at all intimidated by the fact that a naked woman was in the room. "Nice figure, Yoruichi!" She said, obviously enjoying the expression on her superior's face.

Hitsugaya half-recovered from the shock, and, with his hands still covering his eyes, shouted, "GET OFF ME, WOMAN!"

Yoruichi obliged, and opened the door that Urahara had just walked out of. There was a stack of clothes just sitting there, which had not been there a minute ago. It occurred to the onlookers that this had been planned out, causing even Ayasegawa to roar in laughter at Toshiro's "misfortune."

Yoruichi clothed herself, and smiled. "Come on, Captain! When a woman presents herself to you, you don't tell her to take off! You're such a little kid!"

Hitsugaya dared to open his eyes a crack, and upon seeing a clothed Yoruichi, lost his normally ice-cold head and roared. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I AM NOT A CHILD!"

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Hitsugaya twitched in extreme anger, and the temperature in the room dropped by at least 25 degrees. "Yoruichi Shihoin, I already have a Bankai! Instead of training, I will be fighting you!"

Yoruichi grabbed his arm and pulled it off of Hyorinmaru. "Fine, fine, but first, we need to lay the ground rules for training." Hitsugaya was obviously put off even more by this dismissal, and even uttered a feral growl, but sat back down, his eyes never leaving the cat-woman. It got so cold that everyone's breath was crystalizing. Yoruichi turned to the group. "Ok, so we have to get all of you to Bankai. While one person is training, the rest will be on standby in case Ichigo's Hollow decides to attack. Understood?"

There was general agreement.

"Great!" Yoruichi clapped once. "So who's first?"

There was general silence.

"Oh, come on. Surely SOMEONE must be willing to go first?" Yoruichi looked around. "People, we need to do this. The risk is definitely worth it—just look at Ichigo!" Yoruichi was almost pleading. "Ikkaku and Yumichika, I would think that the two members of Squad Eleven would love to go first despite the risk."

Ikkaku remained adamant. "I have my reasons. I don't need to go first." Ikkaku was sweating. If he were to accept the training, he would have to reveal that he had already achieved Bankai. He would surely be attacked mentally for his concealment, and that would not be good—especially since he would be up for a promotion.

Ayasegawa frowned. "I as well, do not want to go." Ayasegawa's fears were attributed to the form of his Bankai, rather than the existence of it. What if Ruri'iro Kujaku took its true form, instead of the partial release he had shown the Eleventh? He would be drummed out of his division so fast, he wouldn't even be able to say "beautiful."

Hitsugaya merely stood and walked out of the room. "I'll be downstairs," was the terse explanation. Everyone was relieved when they felt the temperature return to a nice, warm, seventy-two degrees farenheight.

Rukia obviously didn't want to go; nobody was going to force her to fight the one who once had her own Shinigami powers. Matsumoto, though…

Everyone was looking at her. Matsumoto looked up from inspecting her nails. "Oh? Am I to go first?"

Yoruichi smiled. "It seems that way. Are you ready?"

Matsumoto pouted. "But Haineko is a prissy brat! I don't like her. It was bad enough spending ten or fifteen minutes in my inner world with to obtain Shikai! I can't last three days with her!"

Yoruichi laughed at the Vice-Captain's immaturity. "Don't worry, the Tenshintai deactivates at night. It might be three days, but it's only thirty-six hours of training."

Matsumoto crossed her arms like a little girl who was denied her favorite toy. "No."

Rukia was exasperated. "Matsumoto-san, please! You have to do it eventually! Why not do it now?"

Matsumoto sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll do it. But you owe me for this, Rukia."

With that, the busty Vice-Captain, the former leader of the Onmitsukido disappeared out of the room, going downstairs to the large training cavern. Now it was Rukia's turn to pout. "I don't owe that woman anything! It's her responsibility to do this!"

She turned to the two men of the eleventh. "On that note, why are you two so opposed to the training? I'd think you two would love to master Bankai."

Ikkaku shifted nervously, very unbecoming of his character. "I didn't speak up because I felt I would be attacked if I did."

Rukia waved a hand to display impatience. "You don't care about attacks—in fact, you want to fight as much as possible. What gives?"

Ikkaku drew his zanpakuto. "I guess it doesn't matter anymore, since I was gonna obtain Bankai anyways. Follow me outside."

Rukia and Yumichika stood and followed the bald man outside, where Ururu was now sweeping. The little girl bowed politely and went inside to get out of their way. Ikkaku slammed the sheath of his sword into the butt of the blade. "Extend, Hozukimaru!" a gust of wind erupted from the point where the two parts of the sword connected, and the sword fused into a long spear.

Rukia was beginning to understand. "I see now. The reason you don't want to train in order to reach Bankai was because…" She trailed off as she noticed a figure standing on top of a building. She gasped, and the two eleventh division members turned around to follow her gaze.

It was The Hollow, who was just standing there, looking at them. "Oh, no," it said. "Don't stop on my account. Please carry on!"

_**END OF CHAPTER!**_

_**So… Obviously, I'm going to be upping the rating to T. It was excusable for minor cursing, but a drunk Matsumoto pushed it over the edge—I thought it was too funny to not put it, hahaha!**_

_**I know I didn't write much on Renji's part of the story, and I didn't include the Vizard at all in this one, but there wasn't much to tell. Obviously the Vizard were planning on going to Urahara's anyway, and it takes more than just an hour or so to travel to Karakura Town, as evidenced by the Fake Karakura Town Arc. Renji… I don't know, I couldn't think of anything substantial to write without spoiling what I had in mind for later on in the story. As for Inoue and Kon, there wasn't much I could say. Spoilers for the Arrancar arc, but she doesn't get kidnapped until the return trip. I can shoehorn in something about her training, but her and Kon will be out of the picture for a while.**_

_**Now, for comment replies! And by the way, thank you guys for more reviews than any of the other chapters so far:**_

_**JanusTheUnlucky7 – I know it's kind of a stretch, since in the anime/manga, that honor kinda belongs to Rukia, but it makes sense when you think about it.**_

_**Keitoz – Thanks—I hope that this chapter was a satisfactory expansion. Also, Masquerade is an eloquently-written story—I'm just not into the Ulquiorra/Orihime pairing (sorry!). It is a good story, though. Good job.**_

_**Silent Hero 13 (for chapter 1) – Thanks; wasn't sure if I had overdone Hollow-Ichigo or not, good to have a second opinion that I didn't.**_

_**T8ochoa – Really? I've seen quite a couple non-yaoi, but I'm glad that you chose mine to read! Thanks; it means a lot that you even bothered to read!**_

_**Silent Hero 13 – (for chapter 2) – Thanks—once again, I wasn't sure if I had captured their personalities correctly. And I agree—the comedy and action together are what make a good fic; I just didn't know if I pulled it off. **_


	5. And so it Begins

_**Ok, to begin, I changed a few things from previous chapters. After some very minor grammar issues (not very many, but there were some), I changed the scene where Hollow Ichigo fights the Vizard. The entire scene from Shinji's beheading to the end of the chapter is changed; I would suggest going back and rereading Chapter 1 if you started following this story before December 13, 2012. The fight is a LOT more detailed now than it was before—and better written, IMO.**_

_**And now that that's out of the way, here's the story!**_

_The Hollow was standing there, looking at them. "Oh, no," it said. "Don't stop on my account. Please, carry on!"_

Ikkaku smiled. "So this is the guy who defeated Ichigo? Seems the same to me!"

The Hollow scoffed. "As if." He jumped off the building and walked over to where the group was standing. "I'm much stronger than that man could ever be. I have access to all his latent Shinigami AND Hollow abilities."

Ayasegawa put a hand on his sword. "Although the blending of opposites to form a new power is a beautiful concept, I'm afraid we can't let you live, Hollow."

Hollow Ichigo snickered. "Please. Even if I were to use half of my power, none of you would stand a chance. You don't even have Bankai!"

Ikkaku began twirling Hozukimaru, still in spear form. "I don't know, Hollow. I think I might stand a better chance than you think."

The hollow raised Ichigo's eyebrow. "Really now? Am I to take that as you having mastered Bankai?"

Ikkaku grinned. "Wanna find out?"

The Hollow shrugged. "Normally, I'd be all for it. I'd love to rip you apart, but I have business with my dear old daddy."

All three onlookers were confused. "Err, your who?" Rukia asked.

The Hollow waved a hand. "Oh come now, you HAVE to know that I was born during Ichigo's training with Urahara. I owe my life to that man."

Rukia suddenly found herself pointing Sode no Shirayuki at her former friend. "I don't know what you're up to, but don't think your tricks are going to have any effect on us. You're obviously lying; Urahara-san would not bring a creature like you into existence!"

The Hollow grinned. "He made the Hogyoku, didn't he?" Rukia began to argue, but the disagreement died on her tongue. In reality, she realized, she knew nothing about Urahara's past. The Hollow's grin slowly faded. "Enough. I'm not here to fight, but I won't hesitate to maim you if you don't stand aside." With those words, a sliver of The Hollow's mask formed on the edge of his face, as if daring the Shinigami to challenge him, to force the rest of the mask out.

Yumichika batted an eyebrow. "Hollow, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're outnumbered. To challenge us would be to run the gauntlet. Even if you take one of us down, another would step up and take place."

Ikkaku laughed. "Ah, shut up, Yumichika! I won't lose to this freak of nature!"

The Hollow's eyes narrowed and he reached back to grab his sword by the hilt. "The one day—no, the one HOUR—in my entire life I don't feel like fighting, and you idiots just don't know when to shut up. You're really getting on my nerves, so stand aside before I slice you down."

Ikkaku laughed once more as Hozukimaru split into its sansetsukan form. "Hollow, the only thing that's keeping me from attacking right now is the fact that you're not in your Bankai!"

The Hollow rolled his eyes. "Please. You couldn't do NOTHING against my Bankai."

Ikkaku shook his head. "I think I'd be able to do a little more than nothing, Hollow. I've been training for my rematch against Ichigo for so long, you'll have to do. And besides, if I kill you, I won't feel guilty about dooming Soul Society like I would if I killed Ichigo."

Hollow Ichigo drew his cleaver, the black cloth unwrapping. "You know, I just realized something: I hate the sound of your voice."

Ikkaku didn't even wait. He jumped up and swung Hozukimaru like a nunchuck, aiming for the Ichigo lookalike's neck. "I could say the same about you, Hollow!"

The hollow brought up his sword to block, and the blade of Ikkaku's weapon bounced off. Ikkaku used the momentum to twirl in midair and reverse the motion of his sansetsukan, aiming for the other side of the Hollow's face.

The mask began to form. The Hollow's eyes quirked in amusement as the first two pieces of Ikkaku's weapon wrapped around his own. "Nice try," he said, warped voice ringing, "but you can't hope to fight me like this!" With that last word, Hollow Ichigo ripped his cleaver upwards, and the weapon that was wrapped around his blade snapped in half, reverting to spear form as it fell.

Ikkaku, now weaponless, looked at his adversary, a grin on his face. "Excellent." He allowed the air beneath him to dissipate, and fell to the ground, picking up the two halves of his spear before rising back up into the sky.

The Hollow snorted as his mask stopped forming halfway across his face. "Really? You insult me, Shinigami. Fighting with a broken weapon." A quick slash to the face that Ikkaku's didn't even try to dodge had him bleeding from the left cheek. "You can't even face up to my speed in my Shikai. You have no right to see my Bankai. Now move, before that cut on your face gets deeper!"

Ikkaku didn't move. A chuckle began to resonate from the bald third-seat. The sound was the only one to be heard, and it slowly rose to a maddening, battle-crazed laugh. The Hollow merely lowered his sword as he waited for Ikkaku to stop. "You gonna laugh like a madman all day? I ain't got time for that, cue ball!"

Down on the pavement below, Rukia quietly mumbled, "Hypocrite..."

Ikkaku slowly let his mirth die off, a serious look coming over his face. "Me, insult you? Here's a quick lesson on Hozukimaru, you Ichigo-wannabe. Hozukimaru is lazy. He doesn't want to give any power, so I've gotten strong to compensate. In fact, Hozukimaru won't even let me use his full power unless we're in a defenseless state, like if my Shikai breaks in half."

Hollow Ichigo inhaled sharply as he realized what just happened. "You allowed me to break your Shikai, in order to gain your zanpakuto's power."

Ikkaku's grin returned in full force. He slammed the two halves of Hozukimaru back together as he shouted, "Bankai!"

Hollow Ichigo merely raised an eyebrow as his foe was enveloped in an explosion of reiatsu and dust. How the dust cloud was able to reach him all the way up in the sky, the world will never know. When it cleared, Ikkaku was holding a guan dao in his left hand, a spade in his right. An axe blade was on his shoulders, and all three weapons were oversized. "Ryumon Hozukimaru," he said, breathless with anticipation.

Down below, Rukia nodded in comprehension. Of course he already had Bankai. Why else would he refuse training? As for Yumichika... The female cast a glance at the relatively emotionless fifth-seat. "This is special, you know," he said. "It's the first time he's used it in battle. The fact that he's revealing it is not only a testament to this creature's strength, but a show of acceptance. He was almost scared when he learned how to use it. He didn't want to become anything other than Captain Zaraki's right-hand man."

Rukia looked back at the fighters again with a new respect found for the dual-wielding man. To hold back so much for something you desire...

"I've shown you mine, so now you gotta show me yours, Hollow!"

The Hollow gave Ikkaku a once over and shrugged. "Nah, don't feel like it. I can't feel any more reiatsu being exerted than before. When your sword wakes up, then we'll do some real fighting."

Ikkaku growled. "You don't know what you're asking for Hollow. I don't know how you knew my sword was still asleep, but you'd better fight me before it DOES wake up, or you're shit outta luck!"

The Hollow actually raised his free hand to his mouth and began picking some ramen out of his teeth. "Sorry, but I don't think I even need luck to win. You're hopeless. In fact, I'll fight you at half power."

Ikkaku began to grow frustrated. "Enough talk! Let's fight!" He lunged at the Hollow with his guan dao, which was blocked effortlessly. The spade was thrust forward, which was parried by a mere twist of the blade on the Hollow's behalf. Ikkaku then drew both weapons back and thrust forward with both simultaneously, and the Hollow sonido'd to the side, dodging. He grabbed Ikkaku's wrist and pulled forward, forcing him off-balance. Then he thrust at Ikkaku's back, but the axe- blade got in the way. The Shinigami then lifted the axe off his shoulders and began twirling it, the two weapons that were attached swinging like flails. The Hollow jumped back for a moment as the weapons circled Ikkaku, then swung at the man with an uppercut, knocking the weapons circling him to the sky. The hollow quickly spun, converting his momentum into a downward strike. Ikkaku quickly leaned to the side, avoiding all but a small cut on his leg.

Hollow Ichigo and Ikkaku both stepped back. The dragon emblazoned on Ikkaku's axe was three-fourths full of red dye, and the mask on the Hollow's face was three-fourths complete.

"Not bad, Madarame! Maybe I will have to use full power after all!"

Ikkaku grinned. "I'm just getting warmed up!" With that, he grabbed his two weapons and lunged forward. The two traded even more blows with few injuries. Each collected a mass of small cuts, and those were quickly forgotten. The two were so focused on beating each other to a pulp, they didn't even notice the minor injuries cropping up. This continued for a little while, until Ikkaku brought both weapons in a vertical arc, one from each direction. The Hollow protected his face, but the attack caught both of his legs. Blood rushed from the wound as the thighs were left with giant gashes on each. The two paused, breathing heavily.

The Hollow reached down, touched his legs, and stood back up. Ikkaku grinned, while the Hollow looked serious. He pointed his cleaver directly at Ikkaku and braced his wrist with his other arm. "Bankai." The white robe covered his body, and his sword compacted itself down to its Bankai form. Then, the cuts on the Hollow's legs healed, thanks to his Instant Regeneration.

Ikkaku barely had enough time to smirk before he felt a burning pain in his stomach. He looked down and saw the black daiko sticking through his abdomen, wordless.

The Hollow raised his chin. "Che. Even if you can beat my Shikai's power and match its speed, you can't hold a candle to my Bankai."

Ikkaku nodded in understanding. "We'll then, I guess I'll go down fighting!" With no warning, he swung his guan dao at the Hollow's arm, which was still holding the sword that was through his stomach. The Hollow quickly drew the sword back out of Madarame's abdomen and blocked, then quickly stabbed him again.

"You can't beat me, Shinigami. See how easily I stab you?" The Hollow said, his voice flat, and face obscured by his mask.

Ikkaku simply shouted and swung again, to the same result. And again. And again. The fifth time, the Hollow jumped back, putting distance between the two. "Hollow, get back here so I can put some cuts on you!"

The Hollow resealed his sword. "I don't want to kill you, Shinigami," he said quietly. His mask broke off his face, but his emotions were so blank, it was as if he still was wearing it. "I only want respect. To be respected as would royalty, like a King. I want my power to exceed that of everyone around me. I have never had the desire to kill. Even when I took control of Ichigo during his fight with Kuchiki, I only wanted to survive, and to have fun. I never tried to kill anyone except in self defense." This was partially true; Shinji and the Vizard would have killed him on the spot without even thinking if he hadn't killed Shinji first.

Ikkaku shook his head as blood began to seep out of the corners of his mouth. "That may be so, but I don't give a damn about your intentions. Either you kill me, or I kill you. That's how the Eleventh Division works."

Meanwhile, Rukia was caught between pity and rage at the Hollow's speech. On the one hand, she saw truth in the Hollow's words-he hadn't killed Renji (or so he said), and he hadn't killed Madarame. He didn't even initiate the fight. On the other hand... He had taken control of Ichigo's soul, his very being. Maybe he had done it for survival, but it didn't change the fact that he had stolen away her friend. In the end, Rukia just stood there as the Hollow replied to Ikkaku.

"I like you, Cue Ball. I want to fight with you in the future. I can't do that if I kill you now, can I?"

Ikkaku spat the blood and reverted to Shikai, unable to maintain the Final Release. "Fine, but don't walk away from the fight until it's over! And it's over when one of us falls unconscious!"

The Hollow nodded. Impossibly fast, he appeared at Ikkaku's side and delivered a barehanded chop to the neck. The Shinigami's eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed to the ground. Yumichika quickly picked up his friend and laid him down in front of the shop.

The Hollow sheathed his sword and allowed himself to fall to the ground. He looked at Rukia, who suddenly froze as she looked at the soulless, yellow eyes that were once her friend's. "Rukia," he said, slowly. "Let me go to where that god-damned shopkeeper is. That, or end up like Chrome dome over there."

Rukia hesitated, before drawing her sword. The hollow was suddenly upon her, mere inches from her face. He was gripping her sword so hard that Rukia could almost hear Sode no Shirayuki's screams inside here head. "Don't make me hurt you, Kuchiki. I've had my fill of bloodshed for the day. But if you defy me..." He trailed off, squeezing her sword just enough to crack the metal a little.

Rukia slowly sheathed her sword, and asked a question. "Why?"

The Hollow took a step back. "Why what? Why did. I take over Ichigo, or why do I want to see Urahara?"

Rukia couldn't hold back tears. "Monster!" She shouted, barely restraining herself. "Why did you do any of it?! First Nii-sama! Then Ichigo! Then Renji! And now Ikkaku! And why do you act like it doesn't matter?! Why are so dead-set on opposing us?!"

The Hollow narrowed his eyes dangerously for a moment. "Who ever said I was opposing you?" Rukia's eyes widened, tears slowing but not stopping. "Don't get me wrong, I want you dead, but I want to survive even more."

Rukia began to argue. "But why are those—"

"Aizen. Than man is surrounded by strong fighters. While I could probably take down any single one of them, a group would be troublesome. Until the time comes where Aizen falls, consider me your ally." The Hollow's mad grin slowly crept back onto his face. " Or do you not think he's worth coming together for?"

Rukia paused. That was new. Rational thoughts coming from an irrational being? No. Nothing about this Hollow was on their side. Even if they had a common enemy, she would never accept Ichigo's killer as an ally. But still...

"Urahara is inside," Rukia said stiffly, stepping to the side. The Hollow nodded, and his madness slowly faded away before walking inside the store.

Yumichika, who had been ripping off pieces of his Shihakusho to stop Ikkaku's bleeding, stopped his first-aid and walked over to Rukia. "Do you really think it was telling the truth?"

Rukia thought about it before slowly saying, "No. But he thinks he was. He had no intention of lying to us." Rukia frowned. "We need all the help we can get."

Yumichika put a hand on her shoulder. "Once this is all over, that Hollow belongs to Ikkaku, and no one else."

Rukia nodded and turned away. "I'm gong to go find Renji. Take Ikkaku inside and get him treatment... And keep an eye and a half on that… thing."

Yumichika nodded before Rukia shunpo'd away.

* * *

As she was flying by the landscape, Rukia frowned. She had made a mistake by trusting the monster; of that there was no doubt. She just didn't know why she had done if. Why did she let him through, even while knowing that she didn't believe him? Such a stupid move, and yet she didn't regret it. Perhaps she wanted to believe that Ichigo was still in there, still salvageable? She didn't know what to think, so she just followed Renji's reiatsu signature. It was still there, of course. A little distressed, but nothing major.

* * *

A few minutes ago, before the fight with the Hollow had occurred, a group of three had descended to the basement of Urahara's shop: the Tenth-Squad's Captain and Vice-Captain, and Yoruichi. Rangiku was pouting, Hitsugaya was crossing his arms indifferently, and Yoruichi was holding the Tenshintai.

Urahara was already there, having sent off Inoue and Kon to the Soul Society. "Ah, good," he said. "So, Matsumoto-san is first?"

Rangiku crossed her arms. "No. I don't wanna."

Hitsugaya's temple throbbed. "Vice-Captain Matsumoto, you are to activate the Tenshintai and achieve Bankai in order to help Soul Society defeat Aizen and the Arrancar. That is an order!"

Rangiku reluctantly drew her sword. "Fine, but dealing with Haineko is something that I can't do sober. Kisuke, Yoruichi, either of you got any sake?"

Yoruichi almost made a move to go back upstairs, but then thought better of it and deposited the Tenshintai on the ground. "Sorry, Matsumoto, but we all have to be sober to get through three days of training."

Rangiku's eyes bulged in incredulity, but held her sword at the ready. "Aw, come on!"

Urahara jumped from his rocky outcrop over to the group. "Now, now, Matsumoto-san! Surely you can get through three days! After all, you've spent most of your life with Haineko. Just three more days?"

Yoruichi slapped Rangiku's back playfully. "Yeah, stab the Tenshintai and spend some quality time with your zanpakuto!"

Rangiku held her sword at the ready, albeit almost angrily. "Ok, ok! I'll do it! But Captain?" Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. "After this, you have to buy me sake for a year!" With that, the Vice-Captain stabbed the Tenshintai, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then, a quick burst of reiatsu that felt a little like Yoruichi. Then, the Tenshintai glowed brightly and reshaped itself. The final result was a large cat, about four feet tall from paw to shoulders, and with ash grey fur. Turquoise eyes sparkled mischievously.

The figure's tail whipped back and forth for a moment, and then smiled mischievously. "Wow, Rangiku. I never thought you hated me so much."

The onlookers backed away from the Shinigami and her zanpakuto. Rangiku rolled her eyes. "Oh here she is, the cat of the hour. What're we gonna do today? Drink milk-flavored alcohol? Buy completely horrible outfits? Eat tuna?"

Haineko looked visibly irritated. "Oh, shut up you old hag! All of those things are amazing, and you'd look better in sexier outfits, not cuter!"

Rangiku rolled back her sleeve. "Why you little…"

Haineko flashed her fangs. "Right, down to business. Do you wanna get Bankai or not?"

Rangiku nodded slowly. "Yeah. It'll prove beyond a doubt that I'm better than you!"

The zanpakuto ignored her and mewed loudly. Immediately, a giant pit appeared, at least one hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide, and who only knows how deep appeared.

And it was filled completely with living mice.

Everyone watching was simply dumbfounded. Haineko looked impatient. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go find and catch the silver one!"

Rangiku looked at the pit and then back at her zanpakuto. Then back at the pit. Then she began walking towards the ladder. "'Scuse me, I'll be right back. You know, as soon as I'm completely wasted."

Haineko suddenly blurred out of existence and back again in front of the blonde woman. "Oh? And THEN how will you find the one silver mouse out of all ten thousand, two hundred, and thirty two?"

Rangiku paused and then pushed right past Haineko. "By getting drunk and then snatching at anything that looks shiny," she growled.

Haineko hissed in return. "Listen to me, Matsumoto! We could always settle this like women—or cats—but this trial is set specifically for a single purpose. Now go out there and find the silver mouse! Before you do that, don't even think about the word Bankai!"

Matsumoto walked over to the edge of the pit. "Fine, fine, you stuck up prick. Here, here's a mouse." She grabbed a mouse and held it out. The rodent squealed briefly before dissolving into ash, slicing Matsumoto's hand. "OUCH!" She shrieked. "You stupid cat! Why didn't you tell me they would dissolve?"

Yoruichi, who had been peering over the edge of the pit and licking her lips, quickly stood back.

Haineko smiled, baring her fangs. "I thought it would be common sense that a Bankai challenge would be harmful to your being. Or are you just that stupid? If you grab a wrong mouse, it'll cut you. Can you find the right one before you bleed out? Let's find out."

* * *

"My lord, it appears that the Substitute Shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki has succumbed to the powers of his inner hollow. He no longer poses a threat."

"Really now? I thought it would have occurred the other way around. Very well. Advance the date of the attack. Make it today."

_**END OF CHAPTER!**_

_**I know that the fight against Ikkaku was one that I left hanging last time, so I apologize for making it somewhat vague. But, the length of this chapter more than makes up for it, so I'm pleased. Also, I want your input. This is my story and I'm going to have it go where I want, but let me know if you have anything you want me to add (except pairings—this is not a romance story, so at most there'll be HINTS at pairing), let me know, and I'll try to bring it in.**_

_**So Hollow Ichigo has a lighter side to his motives—he wants Aizen dead just as much as everyone else. Speaking of Aizen… He's gonna get involved. And soon, and fast. **_

_**Also, Renji and the Vizard don't make appearances this chapter—don't worry, they will next chapter.**_

_**Ok, so Haineko's appearance is a cat. I know it's not part of canon, but I don't consider the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales/Toju Arcs canon either. They completely redesigned Zabimaru, so I think it's fair enough to say that the zanpakuto as manifested by Muramasa are different than the zanpakuto as manifested by their Shinigami. But I do wonder: Did I portray Haineko's character correctly, as well as her relationship with Matsumoto? Let me know.**_

_**On to reviews!  
**_

_**Kurotensaki13 – Your wish is my command! Let me know if this one is to your liking.**_

_**Rumu – Glad you liked it. That's the point of this story; to keep you off-balance slightly, but still in your comfort zone. Thanks for letting me know that I succeeded, at least for one of the chapters.**_

_**JanusTheUnlucky7 – Thanks; did the chapter go as you liked? Sorry about the cliffie, I just couldn't find a good place to put the end last time. I'll try to keep cliffhangers to a minimum, but no promises :D**_

_**Reviews welcome, critics even more so! Thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter.**_


	6. A Little Fluff and a Lot of Revelations

Yumichika sighed as he picked up his fallen friend. "Don't worry, Ikkaku. You'll get another shot at that guy, just as soon as Aizen is dead." He threw the unconscious Third-Seat over his shoulder and walked inside, only to see the Hollow just sitting there, doing absolutely nothing. "You. What are you doing?" The venom was all too clear in Ayasegawa's voice.

The Hollow shrugged. "Exactly what I said I was gonna do. I wanna talk with the shopkeeper. I never said anything about showin' myself to everyone else, while all of them still hate me. I'm not suicidal."

Ayasegawa narrowed a feathered eye. "Go, now. It's not very beautiful to lie."

Hollow Ichigo raised his chin. "Che. I wasn't lying. There IS something really important I have to talk to the shopkeeper about. I just wanna live. I can't just go downstairs and say 'hey, I'm home.'" He smirked, as if he had just summed up his life.

Yumichika stared for a moment, then turned away. "I don't have time for you, anyways. I'm getting Ikkaku some medical treatment for YOUR wounds."

The Hollow stood. "I could heal him."

Yumichika's purple eyes flickered over to meet gold. "No."

"And why not?"

"I don't trust you."

"Good."

The two glared at each other for a moment, before the Hollow sighed. "You know, if I really was your enemy, all of you would already be dead… Except maybe the shopkeeper." Yumichika was silent. He didn't utter a single word before opening the trapdoor and jumping through, still carrying Ikkaku. Hollow Ichigo sighed again. "I wonder how long before they begin to see the importance of a common enemy…" Then, he waited for a dramatic moment to herald his entrance.

* * *

"Gah! Haineko, you are such a bitch!" Matsumoto was livid, having sliced her hands on her twenty-third mouse.

The zanpakuto in question merely laughed. "Oh, shut up, you hag. You know that I'm more of a pussy."

Even Hitsugaya had to chuckle at that one, until all of the people present saw Yumichika descending down towards them, Madarame slumped over one shoulder.

The captain immediately was standing on air, beside the feminine Shinigami. "Ayasegawa, what happened?"

The man was silent, as if he was contemplating something. He let go of the ladder and jumped the rest of the way down, landing softly. He turned to Yoruichi and laid the body at her feet. The zanpakuto and her wielder both stopped what they were doing as well to walk over. Urahara was the only one who didn't walk towards the body. In fact, his eyes were trained upward, looking to where the ladder disappeared into the sky—literally, as it was the nature of the spell to disguise the ceiling as the sky.

"Yumichika, what happened?" Yoruichi asked the question that Hitsugaya had put forth moments ago.

Yumichika sadly responded, "Ichigo happened."

Hitsugaya was the most shocked. "You mean to say that it attacked so quickly after it attacked Renji? How cold it heal itself so quickly? Wait… But does this mean you defeated it, as you are unscathed?"

Yumichika opened his mouth and paused, as if waiting for something. Then, he continued. "The Hollow… isn't evil," he said, the words leaving a bitter and reluctant taste on his tongue.

This remark brought cries of outrage from everyone, who refused to calm down until Ikkaku suddenly sat up, coughing blood. Yoruichi pushed him back down, and immediately began a healing kido. The bald man spoke. "I felt… I felt the intentions behind his sword… They… They were more fearful, not evil. If he wanted to kill me, he would've."

Yoruichi looked over at where Urahara had been sitting not moments ago. The man was gone.

* * *

"So tell me, Hollow-san: How did you manage to break the oh-so-carefully plotted growth curves I had projected for you?"

Kisuke and Hollow Ichigo were sitting in a back room, away from the entrance to the training grounds.

The Hollow was cool, collected, and smiling. "Probably the fact that you decided to attempt controlled Hollowfication without ever having done it before. Projected growth-curve, my ass—I was ALWAYS stronger than Ichigo."

Urahara leaned forward. "I see. So, I assume you're here for answers?"

The Hollow nodded. "WHY did you create me? Just what AM I?" A look of curiosity and sadness almost crept onto his face, but it was quickly banished as the arrogant and bloodthirsty expression that was all too familiar reasserted itself.

Urahara sighed. "Before I tell you anything about yourself, you need to be familiar with the origins of the Vizard."

"You mean those guys who tried to kill me?"

"Probably. Now, they were all once Captains or Vice-Captains of the Gotei 13. Shinji is the strongest."

The Hollow leaned back. "I could tell they were on Captain level, but I dunno about Shinji being the strongest. He's the only one I actually killed."

Urahara's eyes widened uncharacteristically at the casual mention of his ally's death. He quickly recovered, and continued. "I… see... Anyhow, they were Aizen's earliest experiments, his first attempts to make Arrancar."

The Hollow frowned. "I thought an Arrancar started out as a Hollow, then got Shinigami powers, not the other way around."

Kisuke waved a fan. "My dear Hollow-san! I'm merely using Arrancar in the sense of a Shinigami-Hollow hybrid. Please indulge me this once."

The Hollow rolled his eyes. "Fine. Go on; I want answers to my questions, and I'm not gonna wait all day."

Urahara obliged. "Right, so the Vizard. This may come as a shock, but the reason I was exiled from the Soul Society is because Aizen was able to shift the blame for his experiments onto me."

The Hollow snorted. "Oh yeah, I totally find that hard to believe." His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Urahara didn't seem to notice.

"Actually, you're right. They wanted to imprison me, until Yoruichi, the second-division captain and my good friend, helped me out."

"Ah, and the pieces fall into place!"

"So, I took my friends with me, Tessai included, and escaped here, where I became the humble yet beautiful shopkeeper you see today. Now that the backstory is out of the way—"

"Which wasn't necessary at all..." The Hollow grumbled.

"—I can answer your questions. The first one, which I believe was why I made you, was a foolish experiment on my part. I figured if Aizen desired to use a Hollow-Shinigami hybrid to defeat us, I would send a Shinigami-Hollow hybrid back in his face. Obviously, I overestimated Ichigo's ability to work with others, and the final result of your clash is sitting before me."

The Hollow understood. "So... I'm here because you wanted to fight fire with fire?" Urahara nodded. "Che. That's a weak reason. Why didn't you just ally with the Vizard, then? Why bother with me?"

"The Vizard wanted no part in any of Soul Society's affairs. They would indeed attack Aizen on sight, but none of them would actively help unless Aizen involved them personally. I knew it was a lost cause when my own Vice-Captain said I was bald. She doesn't do that unless she's being stubborn..." He trailed off, and then shook himself. "So, I need someone that, when the time came, would be willing to protect. At the same time, he needed to be part-Hollow, which is a secret that I never was able to figure out, until I created the Shattered Shaft. Even then, my method would only work if I used a living soul, one that still had a soul chain that could be eroded properly.

"Kurosaki-san was my pawn, and I'm not proud to admit it. By trying to make something that could match Aizen's creations, I sank to his level. I thought I had succeeded when I had Tessai cut his Soul Chain, but I knew I had failed when I saw your mask on his face. It was a bittersweet moment."

The Hollow was silent, for once. Then: "So it was your intention for us to be allies? To give each other a leg up when the other needed? Not a King and a Horse, but two partners?"

Urahara nodded. "Yes. I couldn't have given my advice on the issue, unless Kurosaki-san had come to me first. Otherwise I would have betrayed my intentions and lost his trust. Therefore, I had to let him deal with you on his own."

The Hollow shook his head. "That's what you get for trustin' a Hollow, shopkeeper. But that leads me into my second question. I still want to know what I am. I'm definitely not a Shinigami, and I'm definitely not a pure Hollow. I can't be an Arrancar either, cause I don't have a Hollow Hole or a Mask Fragment."

Urahara smiled. "You're right, you are an anomaly, but you can fall into either the category of the Arrancar OR the Vizard."

The Hollow sputtered. "Excuse me? I ain't the same as those weaklings who tried to get Ichigo to squash me out!"

Urahara shook his head. "No, you aren't. You see, if you were to ask an Arrancar if it were a Hollow or Shinigami, it would obviously say it's a Hollow. A Vizard would obviously say Shinigami—at least, if they were forced to choose. You, my friend, are the purest form of hybrid. You wouldn't be able to choose because you aren't the gradient blend between black and white; you are a thorough shade of gray. You have the instincts of a Hollow but the mind of a Shinigami; you have the bloodlust of a Hollow, but the temperance of a Shinigami. Even your appearance is a hybrid—Hollow eyes and voice, but the body of a Shinigami. You are your very own being, one that can't be classified into any category."

Hollow Ichigo smirked. "Heh. I knew I was one of a kind."

The shopkeeper nodded his agreement. "Also, there's something else I want to mention. Can I trust you?"

"No."

There was silence for a moment. "I'll tell you anyways." The Hollow fell backwards, anime-style. Urahara paid no notice and continued. "Because of how pure your blending is, I'd wager a guess that you could use a Resurección."

The Hollow straightened up immediately. "Impossible. I have a Ichigo's Bankai, so—"

"Yes, but not his sword… By the way, about the Bankai: I haven't seen it myself, but I'd wager a guess that it looks something like _his_ daiko and a custom robe?"

The Hollow nodded slowly. "So what?"

"That proves my theory. Because Ichigo's sword still comes out during your Bankai, I can say that you rely on Ichigo completely and totally as a crutch for your Shinigami half—"

"Hey!"

"—but you also have your own sword. See? The colors are inverted.""

The Hollow unwrapped the cloth surrounding his blade. "Yeah? So what?"

"Well, that leads me to believe that the sword you are holding is not Zangetsu. You see, you and Zangetsu were the two dormant personalities of Ichigo's soul, correct?" Urahara didn't let the Hollow answer. "Well, you and Zangetsu are both technically sword spirits, and Zangetsu wielded himself. Since you are also a spirit of similar nature, it follows that you would wield yourself. Does that make sense?"

The Hollow didn't get a word he was saying, but went along with it anyways. "So you're saying that I can use a Resurección. I can be stronger than I am?"

Urahara nodded. "Yes. Your Shikai state offers you a choice. One choice is to embrace your Shinigami half, Ichigo's influence over you. Basically, you have Ichigo's Bankai. The other is to follow the path of your own power, allow yourHollow form to take over. That is the equivalent to a Bankai in power all on it's own, but you would fight without a sword, without a weapon, allow your Hollow heritage to shine through."

The Hollow grinned. "That sounds more like it!"

Urahara stood. "I think it's time for you to begin training. Remember, though, just because I accept you as a being that isn't inherently evil, it will be years, maybe decades before the others begin to agree."

The Hollow stood as well. "Aw, shut up, shopkeeper. I just need to learn my sword's name. Then, I'm ready to crack some skulls!"

Kisuke smiled happily and held a fan to his face. "Well, good luck with that. Although, I think it may be pretty difficult. Most Arrancar instinctively know theirs, but you'll have to find your own."

The Hollow grinned. "Oh, you underestimate me. I know myself better than you think. You may have created me, but my limits are higher than you projected. Now that I have what I want from you, I'm gonna go train. I'll see you later name."

With that, the Hollow opened the door and was gone. Kisuke lowered his hat, thinking. Not two minutes later, Yoruichi entered. "Ikkaku's gonna be fine. That Hollow did a number on him, but a quick healing kido fixed him right up. He'll be at 100 percent in about an hour. Unohana could've had him back up to full immediately, but…" She shrugged. "They also told me that Rukia went off looking for Renji. By the way…" Yoruichi glanced around the room. "Did he come by?"

Urahara nodded. "I told him everything."

Yoruichi stiffened. "I wouldn't have done that, Kisuke. I would've waited until later to let him know about Resurección. We don't know if we can trust him yet. I sure as hell don't, and I think the others would kill you if you let 'em know what you've done."

Urahara brought his fan to his face. "Well then, I suppose that's one more secret I'll be able to keep for now."

* * *

Down below in the basement, Rangiku was back in the pit, and Ikkaku was watching with interest. "You know," he said, "when I got Bankai from Hozukimaru, we had two trials. And one of them was a real fight."

Haineko turned away from her wielder. "Really? What was the other?"

Ikkaku grinned. "See who could come up with a better Lucky Dance."

Hitsugaya snorted. "I wish that Yoruichi would hurry up and go get Urahara-san. I need to begin my training."

As if on cue, Yoruichi appeared out of nowhere with the quiet whisper of a shunpo and grabbed a handful of Toshiro's haori, and pulled the entire garment off with a single movement. "You mean me?" She said with a grin. She shunpo'd back several feet and laughed at the short captain's expression. "Oh come on, Toshiro! Lighten up!"

Hitsugaya growled and unsheathed Hyorinmaru. "That's Captain Hitsugaya to—" He was interrupted as Yoruichi suddenly appeared and grabbed the sword right out of his hand by grabbing the hilt and ripping it away.

Yoruichi wagged a finger. "Uh-uh, no swords! We're working on speed today!"

A vein on Hitsugaya's temple pulsed. "Oh, you've made a large mistake, Yoruichi… When I get my sword back, the first thing I'm doing is slicing off that ponytail of yours in penance!"

Yoruichi laughed. "Kid, they don't call me the Goddess of Flash for nothing!"

With that, the chase began. Yumichika was talking with Ikkaku, and Haineko was shouting at Rangiku. With everyone occupied except Kisuke, the shopkeeper was left alone to watch them. To watch them, and to reflect on his actions. At least, that was before the giant spike of reiatsu appeared just outside of Karakura Town.

* * *

A few minutes ago, Renji was just about to enter the Kurosaki Clinic, in hopes of finding his companions. The voice that had been whispering since he woke up hadn't abated at all, but he didn't care. He had actually gotten used to it. He checked Ichigo's bedroom's window, only to find that nobody was there. He turned to leave, when he heard Rukia's voice. "Renji!" He looked to see his lifelong friend running on air towards him as fast as she could.

Renji grinned. "Rukia, I-"

He was cut off by a gigantic hug, one that happened to smash his windpipe. "Rukia...can't... BREATHE!" He choked out, gasping. Rukia's hastily let go, and Renji took huge lungfuls of air.

"Renji, I'm so sorry! I just thought that after the battle, you would be hurt, and I was so glad to see you, and I-"

"Rukia, you're babbling," Renji said.

Rukia blushed. "Sorry, it's just that I was worried and I saw you fighting so hard and he wasn't even breaking a sweat and-"

"Rukia."

"Sorry!"

Renji smiled. "Hey, I mighta been up against a strong opponent, but look at me! I'm in top condition!" The Vice-Captain let out a loud laugh.

Rukia frowned. "Renji, that Hollow that took over Ichigo's body..."

"I know, I have to stop it."

Rukia's shook her head. "No, it wants to help us defeat Aizen!"

Renji's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing. "I don't believe him. Rukia, you can't trust him. He killed Ichigo!"

Rukia's hesitated. "Come with me back to Urahara-san's shop. We'll tell you what's happened so far. Ok?"

Renji nodded. "Ok."

And that's when the crushing reiatsu appeared on the outskirts of Karakura Town. Renji immediately fainted. Rukia was too stunned to do anything, so she did the only sensible thing to do in her position: scream. "YOU IDIOT, WAKE UP! NOW IS DEFINITELY NOT THE TIME TO TAKE A NAP!"

Renji remained out cold. Rukia sighed. "What did that Hollow DO to you?" She asked, partially to herself. Until Renji woke up, she was unable to go check the source. She really hoped that the others had everything under control.

She really, REALLY hoped so.

* * *

After rewinding time another few minutes, Hollow Ichigo had sat down on the roof of a building about three blocks away from Urahara's shop. "So," he said, pulling out his sword. "You're not Zangetsu?"

The sword seemed to shimmer in response.

"Fine then. What would you do if I broke you in half? Then would you tell me your name?" The sword did nothing. Then, the hollow laughed with a sudden realization. "Oh man, I am an idiot! All I gotta do is go inside myself and find this guy! Then, I'll get my Resurrección. "

And so, the Hollow stabbed his sword into the roof of the building and sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes. He was so tranquil, his reiatsu signature almost felt like Ichigo's. Then, it was gone, sucked into its own Inner World.

When Hollow Ichigo opened his eyes, he was greeted by his own personal inner world: A desert, with a ring of skyscrapers forming a ten mile radius all around. It was said that one's inner world reflected their soul, and this was mostly true. The desert, he presumed, was his own personality. Harsh, unforgiving, merciless, and cruel. It also brought a slow and painful death, too. One was able to thrive, though, if they knew ring of buildings surrounding him was obvious-his ever present connection to Ichigo would never escape his mind, no matter how much he wanted to disassociate himself with that weakling. Another thing, he noticed, was that he was once again wearing his white shihakusho, rather than Ichigo's black, and his bleached skin was back as well. The familiarity was almost comforting.

Hollow Ichigo drew his cleaver and shouted, "Oi, is anybody here?"

"I am," said a voice. When Hollow Ichigo turned, he was faced by Zangetsu.

"Oh, old man. What're you doing here?"

"Providing you with the power to survive. Since Ichigo was forced to submit, you've become the dominant inner world. He and I now share the same relationship that you and I once shared."

Hollow Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, ok, I got that… So, how's he—the horse—doing?"

Zangetsu's mouth tightened into an even thinner line than usual. "When you defeated him, you took nearly all of his reiryoku for yourself. I have been nursing him back to health, but that may take a while. Months, in fact. You know that I do not approve of that behavior."

Hollow Ichigo shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a greedy guy." He looked side to side. "By the way, you see any Hollows in here? Besides me, I mean."

Zangetsu smiled. "I would image that's him, right behind you." With that parting line, he shunpo'd away, and Hollow Ichigo felt something very large and very powerful slap him to the side.

He got up and looked at the offender.

It was a bipedal Hollow, the Hollow Hole in the center of its chest. It looked almost reptilian, with a tail and a hunched back. It had humanoid limbs, but the hands and feet were both tri-clawed. It had a mane of orange hair, and it wore Hollow Ichigo's mask.

Hollow Ichigo smiled. "Hey buddy, long time no see! How's it been?" The Hollow roared in anger. The pseudo-Arrancar pointed his cleaver at it. "Should I take that to mean you're sad I left?"

The Hollow responded with a swipe of its claws that Hollow Ichigo easily dodged. "Funny, with Ichigo I was only metaphorically fighting myself. Now, it's literal." He dodged another swipe of the claws. "Hey, any chance you could tell me what my name is?" A cero began to charge on the side of the lizard. "I guess not!" The sentient hollow charged the bestial one. "Maybe I'll just beat it out of you!"

* * *

"So, any idea why boss-man moved up the mission by a whole month?" One of the quad asked, icy blue hair waving in the wind.

"No idea, FORMER sexta," another one answered.

"Who cares?" The third one asked. "I just wanna beat someone to a pulp!"

The fourth, incapable of speech, simply gazed in wonder at the world around him.

The first one grinned in anticipation. "I want another piece of that Kurosaki guy. You two can have anybody else that comes this way."

"Now now, Grimmjow, don't go forgetting Wonderweiss here. He can still have fun if he wants."

Grimmjow looked at the third member of the group. "Are you hearing this bitch, Yammy? He wants to give the retard OUR kills!"

Yammy punched the second one's shoulder. "Yeah, Luppi, why'd you do that?"

Luppi rubbed his shoulder. "Oh dear, someone's getting a little restless."

Yammy growled in a feral manner before a voice interrupted him. "Now now, people, there'll be plenty of us to go around."

The group all turned to face the speaker, a man in a green and white striped hat and somewhat dirty clothes. He was accompanied by a small boy with white hair, a bald guy, a woman with golden eyes, and someone who they couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl.

"Hey Luppi, I got dibs on the one in the weird hat!"

Luppi sighed. "So immature, Yammy. Fine, go ahead. Grimmjow? Is the Kurosaki fellow among this group?"

Grimmjow was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "Nope, and I can't feel his reiatsu either. I think I'll stick here and wait for him to show his ugly head."

Luppi grumbled. "And here I thought I was going to get the rest of them all to myself. Fine, fine, take the short one and be done with it."

This got a reaction from Hitsugaya. His reiatsu flared and he growled. "Arrancar, I don't know why you're here, but know that this will be your final resting place."

Through the entire encounter, all Wonderweiss did was stare ahead into nothingness. Yammy, on the other hand, was restless. "Goddamnit, I'm ready to bust someone's head open! Lemme at 'em!"

Urahara smiled. "Very well then, I will be your opponent. Here, let's go!" He drew Benihime and shunpo'd about thirty yards away. Yammy followed, and the two began to battle.

Grimmjow had a sour look on his face, and muttered something about "that coward Kurosaki" before drawing his sword with his only arm and pointing it at Hitsugaya. "Hey, you. Are you strong? Cause I need someone I can take out my anger on."

Hitsugaya merely drew is sword as well and pointed it back at Grimmjow. "You will not escape with your life."

Luppi was left with what he deemed as the gay one, the bald one, and the woman. Not very creative nicknames, but he would have to settle. "Ok then, are you three ready to die?"

The response was quick. "Extend!" "Bloom!"

"Hozukimaru!"

"Fuji Kujaku!"

Yoruichi merely took a fighting stance. "I don't think I'll need to use anything else of mine against you. My fists alone are plenty to send you to your grave!"

Luppi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Such arrogance will only make your death arrive sooner."

Yoruichi led the charge. "I could say the same to you!"

The fight began.

Meanwhile, Kon and Orihime were walking through the Dangai Precipice World,

"Kon, please stop worrying! I promise we'll be safe!"

Kon was irritated. "I will not stop worrying, Inoue-san. There are thousands of ways to die in this place alone! We'll be much safer in the Soul Society."

Origins immediately wanted to comfort him. "Don't worry, Kon. We're almost there-see, look! There's a Senkaimon!"

Kon looked ahead, and sure enough, there was a white opening ahead. He grabbed Orihime's wrist and began to run. "Freedom! I hate this place! We're out!"

Orihime stumbled as Kon ran forward, and nearly fell. A hand grabbed her and pulled her up. "Oh, thank you-" she paused and nearly screamed as she looked into a pair of soulless, green eyes.

_**END OF CHAPTER**_

_**And, there we go. This chapter, I'm hoping, will please quite a few people—the origins of Hollow Ichigo, the arrival of the Third Arrancar Attack, and the beginning of Ulquiorra's abduction. Of course, since only 1 of my 18 Alerts reviewed, as well as one anon, I have no way of knowing whether or not I succeeded.**_

_**Please, let me know of my mistakes. I know for a fact that I'm not doing perfectly, but I'm too blind to catch my own mistakes. Help me out?**_

_**Anyways, not much else to say this time, so on with the reviews:**_

_**Kurotensaki13 – Thanks; I intend to have each one of the character's trials represent some sort of quality that their zanpakuto feels that they need to improve upon; for example, Ichigo's trial was simply tempering his heart's inadequacies, and Rangiku… will be revealed later.**_

_**Guest (anon reviewer) – Thank you; glad to see that even people without accounts are following me; it means something… And yeah, my whole intention was to have Hollow Ichigo be the ally, but I needed a way that was more than simply him having a change of heart. As for Aizen… I don't think he's impatient, but rather sees that Hollow Ichigo is a greater wild card than Ichigo would be. Therefore, he has to remove any and all other uncertainties, no matter how small (such as Orihime's presence in Las Noches) so he can focus on dealing with him.**_

_**Reviews welcome, Critics even more so. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**_


	7. Fights, Fights Everywhere

Luppi lazily brought up a fist to block Yoruichi's own. "Is that all you've got, woman? Pathetic."

Yoruichi didn't bother responding, instead dropping down a few feet and aiming her other arm at the Arrancar's stomach. Luppi caught that one as well. "Really now, you should quit before you get hurt. Otherwise I'll kill you."

Yoruichi grinned a little before using shunpo to move a few feet back. "Sure, sure, but whatever you do, don't look down."

Luppi, slightly alarmed, did exactly that, and saw… nothing. Instead, he felt a sword land on his neck. He quickly growled and spun around, unsheathing his own sword and swinging at where Ikkaku had been moments ago. "You bitch!" Luppi hissed at Yoruichi.

The cat-woman shrugged. "Hey, it's not like I didn't warn you. I said not to look down, didn't I?"

Luppi quickly regained composure and smiled. "Well then, it's a good thing I have my Hierro. That sword would otherwise have killed me."

Yoruichi made to attack again, but Yumichika held her back. "Come now Yoruichi, that's not how the eleventh division works. WE do things alone. It's actually a quite beautiful system."

Yoruichi was startled. "What? You'll get yourself killed just because something is beautiful?"

Yumichika gave an uncharacteristic grin. "I would kill myself for something beautiful, yes, but you misunderstand." Yumichika suddenly charged at Luppi. "I have no intention of dying!"

Luppi smiled carelessly and threw a quick punch that knocked Ayasegawa back towards Yoruichi. "Did I hear you correctly? You're going to fight me all by yourself? That won't do. You'd die too fast!"

Ayasegawa growled, loosing his feminine demeanor and charged again. Luppi faked a yawn and sidestepped. Yumichika's eyes widened in shock, and he was once again sent flying. Luppi frowned. "See, I tried to tell you. You really don't have a chance in a one-on-one competition with me."

Yumichika steadied himself, but didn't attack again. "Shut your mouth!"

Luppi turned to Ikkaku and Yoruichi, both of who were just watching. "Will you two please try and talk some sense into your friend? He doesn't seem to understand that he's about to die."

In unison, Yoruichi and Ikkaku shouted "Yes!" and "No!" respectively.

Yoruichi gave a startled look at Ikkaku, who just said, "Two on one doesn't do it for me."

Luppi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I wager that you would have a different attitude if I released my sword." All three participants froze. "See? Already, you're changing your minds." Luppi readied his sword. "You see, I find this type of fighting boring. Things will only get more fun if I do this."

Yoruichi pushed past Ikkaku and began to glow. "I won't allow you to do that!" She cried. "Shunko!"

Luppi's grin cracked into a smile. "Strangle… Trepadora!"

The resulting explosion of energy was enough to force Yoruichi to as halt—not enough to push her back, but in a stalemate, the victory always goes to the defender—which in this case was Luppi.

Yoruichi tensed, waiting for something to happen, not dropping her guard. This was bad. If an Espada was able to release their sword, there was little hope left. She let her shunko flare and prayed that the two men of the eleventh squad would be willing to fight as a group just this once.

Then, a tentacle shot out of the smoke cloud, and Yoruichi instinctively dodged. The tentacle flew past Yoruichi, the air drag pulling the woman backwards slightly. "Not bad, woman!" Luppi's voice rang out.

Yoruichi frowned. "Don't you dare hold back on me. I know the general power levels of the Espada, so I'm surprised that your attack was so slow."

Luppi responded snidely. "Yes, you did a fine job dodging, but I was only attacking from a single angle."

Ikkaku frowned. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The smoke began to clear. "Would you still be able to dodge that attack…" The smoke cleared to show Luppi with an octagonal device on his back, strapped on by a vest made of bone. Eight large tentacles protruded from the device. "..If I was attacking from eight directions at once?!"

The group of three nearly fell out of the sky. Yoruichi's aura of reiatsu flickered a little, as her attention was divided for a split second. Luppi continued his monologue. "I suppose it would be better if I had that guy Yammy was facing, but I think I'll make do with you three. After all—"

Luppi never got to finish, because Yoruichi had disappeared and reappeared right above her and slammed a leg down. Luppi's eyes widened in surprise. _'She's fast!'_ But the Sexta Espada instinctively reacted, grabbing Yoruichi, whose eyes also widened. "Good speed, woman," He said mockingly. All eight of the tentacle-like appendages suddenly closed in on Yoruichi, each from a different angle, two of the appendages even got behind the cat-woman.

Yoruichi cursed and twisted her body into an unnatural shape, attempting to avoid the attack. She managed to dodge, mostly, but her ankle was crushed between two. It was the best possible outcome, Yoruichi thought. If she had tried to shunpo in any direction, she would have run into a tentacle and been crushed completely. No, a broken ankle was the worst of her worries.

Luppi's eyebrow twitched. "I was hoping I would have been able to kill you in a single blow. You're annoying. Oh well, I guess that just means I'll have to take my time. It is better than a three on one, right?" Luppi's face darkened evilly. "This is more like an eight on three fight."

And with that, all three fighters charged forward at once, only to be stopped by a barrage of appendages; Yoruichi by four, and Ikkaku and Ayasegawa by two each. The two eleventh division fighters were stopped by a simple inability to progress, but Yoruichi, despite having taken the most damage so far, shunpo'd out of the way—she wasn't the Goddess of Flash for nothing.

Yoruichi quickly assessed the situation as she shifted into autopilot—the trio was busy dodging repeated strikes from the tentacles, over and over.

Luppi was too fast to take lightly—even though Yoruichi was feeding a steady supply of reiryoku to her shunko technique, Luppi was almost keeping up. If Luppi had decided to take her on in a one-on-one fight, it would be over in no time. So Yoruichi's survival relied on the fact that the others were still up and kicking—which wasn't much of a comfort, seeing as both had bloody faces and Yumichika had a bloody arm as well.

Yoruichi was contemplating the best method of attack—a direct, head-on assault was impossible; Luppi had multiple weapons at her disposal—eight of them, to be exact, no more, no less. Then, she had a sudden idea. "Ikkaku!" She called. The bald fighter looked over at her barely long enough for him to see Yoruichi wink and allow her shunko to dissipate.

Ikkaku's eyes widened and he froze for just a second. Yoruichi was then quickly dispatched; she fell to the ground with barely a sound. The distraction was enough for Ikkaku to get hit in the arm by a tentacle; he growled in pain as his left arm fell off of his sansetsukan.

"Oh dear," said Luppi. "I guess this won't be as fun as I thought. The woman went down much faster than I thought, and you two are facing four-to-one odds now. I don't think you'll last very long, not long at all!"

Yumichika spat blood. "Shut up, Hollow!"

Luppi smirked and trained all eight tentacles on the pair. "I don't know, that woman was doing the best of all three of you, and you saw what happened to her. No, I thought she would last longer before I killed her. If she's down, then who knows how long you two have left?"

Then, as Luppi began renewing her assault, the two Shinigami from the eleventh were battered, bruised, bloody, and hopeless. The only thing that kept them in the air was their pride as eleventh division seated officers: To die in battle was the ultimate honor. To live through a defeat was the ultimate shame. It was a no-brainer to them, although a normal person would not see it the same way. They would keep fighting until they dropped, and even then they would keep fighting.

Luppi's calm, condescending face slowly slipped into madness as he began laughing. "You see? This is true power! You would never be able to best me in battle! I am superior to all of you! I am—"

But whatever Luppi was, we'll never know, because at that moment, an explosion of reiatsu from behind the Arrancar was registered; Yoruichi was back, and her aura of shunko was back, brighter and larger than ever. Her fist dropped onto the Arrancar's octagonal device, attempting to destroy it. Luppi howled in pain as Yoruichi's fist pierced the layer of bone. "Never take your concentration off of ANY of your opponents, Espada! You should have known better than to think I'd be dispatched with a single attack!"

Yoruichi then began to pummel the exposed flesh underneath; the eight sections of skin that formed the base of the tentacles looked remarkable like white worms, squirming around in an attempt to escape the onslaught. Luppi's screams reverberated, mixed in with some very choice curse words. Eventually, the eight worms went limp and the tentacles dropped down to Luppi's sides. Yoruichi stopped attacking the Resurección and began to focus on the Hollow controlling it.

One punch to the face, Luppi jerked backwards.

Two punches. Luppi began to bleed from the mouth.

Three punches….

Luppi didn't even flinch. Yoruichi's eyes widened. "What?"

"Oh, you have it now, bitch!" Luppi hissed. "I thought you were dead, but now I'm going to make sure you stay alive long enough to FEEL yourself die!"

Madarame and Ayasegawa managed to point their swords at Luppi, but only with heavy breathing and jerky movements. "Get away from her!" Ikkaku shouted between coughing up blood.

Ayasegawa was silent, and ran his hand over the blunt edge of his blade, as if contemplating something.

Yoruichi was scared. "But… but how?" She had put all of her strength into her last onslaught; she was pushing herself to the limit, and Luppi was making threats? Especially since Luppi's most vulnerable position had been pummeled!

Luppi's madness reached a whole new level. "I will skin you alive! I will hang your corpse from the bannisters of Las Noches! No… I will hang your barely breathing body from the highest tower in all of Hueco Mundo for all to see, and for Hollows to devour! Your last thoughts will be of how your soul is being devoured!" The whole while Luppi was issuing threats, the tentacles had raised themselves back up, and had already restrained Ikkaku and Yumichika.

Yoruichi's aura faded as not one, but two tentacles wrapped around her, restricting her breathing. The hit she had taken earlier had hurt her more than she thought; she definitely felt at least three ribs crack.

Luppi raised another tentacle. "And how better to make you almost dead…" The tentacle suddenly sprouted multiple, very sharp spikes. "than to poke you full of holes?!"

* * *

Toshiro Hitsugaya was standing in front of the blue-haired Arrancar, sizing him up. "I am Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Division of the Gotei Thirteen."

Grimmjow spared a glance at the youthful captain before turning his attention to Luppi, who had just drawn his sword. "Yeah, sure." After seeing at Hitsugaya's incredulous glance, he reluctantly placed a hand on Pantera's hilt. "Grimmjow Jagerjaquez."

Hitsugaya frowned. "Your reiatsu signature appears to be of Espada level. What number are you?"

Grimmjow's eyes acquired a positively evil gleam. "My rank? Ask HIM. He has it." Grimmjow jabbed his thumb in Luppi's direction.

Toshiro pointed Hyorinmaru at Grimmjow. "I assume from what you are saying that you were an Espada before the loss of your arm?"

Grimmjow nodded. "The Sexta. Don't take me lightly!"

Toshiro nodded. "I don't intend to. Reign over the Frosted Heavens: Hyorinmaru!"

Grimmjow gave Hitsugaya a bored look. "Not now, pint-sized. I'm saving my energy for a worthy opponent, as soon as he decides to show himself. Sorry to say, but you're not worth my time."

Hitsugaya took a stance. _'This is good. As long as he's distracted, I have the advantage.'_ Hoping to keep Jagerjaquez off-guard, he asked, "Who is the man you are looking for?"

"A human, Ichigo Kurosaki. You know him?"

Hitsugaya's eyes widened. _'They know each other?!'_

Grimmjow smiled. "Sweet, you know where he is. Maybe if I fight you, you'll tell me!"

Hitsugaya shook his head. "I don't know where he is. Fighting me will gain you nothing." This was true, at least. "But, know that I have much to gain from fighting you. If I kill you, Aizen will have lost an Espada-level fighter."

Grimmjow scoffed. "Please. One arm is MORE than enough to take you down."

Hitsugaya swung his sword in an arc, releasing a wave of ice. "Then let's get going, shall we?"

Grimmjow held out his hand and the ice froze around it. "Wha?" He said as he examined his frozen hand.

Hitsugaya pressed his advantage and charged Grimmjow, who used his ice-encased hand as a shield. Hitsugaya's sword broke it's own ice prison, and Grimmjow frowned, even though the blade didn't break skin. "I said that I'm not in the mood, half-pint!"

Hitsugaya didn't miss a beat and flicked his sword in a weird, twisting motion that caused the hilt to jerk rather than the blade. The motion made the chain on Hyorinmaru's hilt swing upwards and wrap around Grimmjow's arm. The former Espada cursed as his entire arm was encased. "Why you little… I thought you wouldn't be a threat so I was gonna ignore you… But this is pretty infuriating!"

Hitsugaya smirked. Grimmjow was riled up and more likely to make mistakes. This was a good thing.

"You know what, screw it!" Grimmjow released a blast of reiatsu that shattered the ice that encased his arm. He drew his sword.

This was a bad thing.

Hitsugaya quickly released another wave of ice from his sword and shunpo'd behind the Espada to release another. Grimmjow disappeared with the buzz of sonido and Hitsugaya barely flinched as he heard the whisper of a sword slicing through the air and reached back to block it with Hyorinmaru.

Then, Grimmjow laughed and sonido'd to the front of Toshiro before impact and came at him from the front instead. "Too slow!" He shouted.

But he wasn't Hitsugaya was able to bring his sword back from behind his head and slam down on the bloodthirsty being. Grimmjow twisted to avoid it, but Hitsugaya felt Hyorinmaru sink through flesh and bone.

Grimmjow screamed in agony as his severed leg fell to the ground. The Captain watched impassively while Grimmjow thrashed about. Grimmjow, once he had gotten control of himself, stopped clutching at the bleeding stump. "You…" He spat out, voice dipped in a malice and hatred so deep that if words could kill, everyone in the area would be dead.

"I will hurt you."

Hitsugaya's face remained a blank slate. He was still confident, despite the threat. This was the sixth strongest Arrancar in Aizen's army? It was both a consolation and a worrisome thought. On the one hand, even fighters as strong as his sixth strongest soldier could be dispatched at the hands of a captain with little difficulty. The troublesome bit was that Aizen had a habit of dividing beings into a hierarchy of power—every Espada above Grimmjow was likely to be another whole level higher than him. Of course, Grimmjow was no longer an Espada, but his reiatsu was a good measurement of how strong he had been before losing his arm_—'Probably in a fight against Kurosaki,'_ Hitsugaya mused.

"Grind!"

Oh shit, well that can't be good.

"Pantera!"

Grimmjow, as many other Arrancar who released their zanpakuto, disappeared inside a cloud of dust. Hitsugaya cursed his own lapse in concentration—he should've cut off the other arm before this had a chance of occurring!

The cloud of dust cleared, and Grimmjow looked…. Whole. His arm and leg had both been restored completely. Hitsugaya swore. Loudly. If a Resurección could restore entire limbs… He would have to use Bankai for this battle.

Grimmjow himself looked completely different. His body was covered with white, bonelike armor, and his hands and feet had morphed into claws. His hair was down to his waist, and a long tail whipped out behind him.

Grimmjow himself even looked shocked at the appearance of his new limbs. Both sides simultaneously let out a yelp of shock, although Toshiro was decidedly grimmer than before. Grimmjow only stared at his new left arm for a moment before he laughed. "Oh man, this is GREAT! When we learned that Resurección heals all wounds, we didn't think it was to THIS extent!"

Hitsugaya raised his sword to the heavens as the ice wings began to form. "Bankai! Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" The twelve lotus petals appeared behind the young captain's back as well; at this point in time, he was still subject to the time limit.

The two stood, waiting for the other to attack. Toshiro took this time to size up his opponent's new form. _'He appears to be completely healed, while I am reliant on whatever I have left over from out previous stage of battle. I need to tread lightly…'_ Whatever the case, Toshiro decided that he couldn't draw any conclusions without seeing Grimmjow's new form in action.

Grimmjow frowned. "Oi, are you going to attack? I wanna get done here before time's up."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened. "Time… Up?"

Grimmjow didn't allow Hitsugaya to finish the thought. "It doesn't matter what you know if you're dead!"

And the battle began with renewed vigor. Hitsugaya didn't flinch and began to size up his opponent. Grimmjow's fighting style was decidedly more close-ranged, and he appeared to be ambidextrous. His new style consisted of more slashes than punches, and his feet and tail did not appear to be weapons. Since his style would not be utilizing his appendages, Hitsugaya deemed it safe to indulge in close-quarters fighting.

Grimmjow was similarly running an assessment of his opponent: _'Tricky little bastard freezes things!'_

The difference in the two was obvious—Grimmjow had the upper hand almost immediately. As they clashed, Hitsugaya began to grow curious. "So, Arrancar, what is your mission in this world?"

Grimmjow buzzed to a position behind Hitsugaya and tried to rake his claws across the remaining ten petals. "Like I would tell you!"

Hitsugaya spun on a dime and unleashed a wave of ice at Grimmjow, who narrowly dodged. Hitsugaya charged, and Grimmjow blocked the blow with his hands. As the two engaged in a power struggle, Hitsugaya uttered through gritted teeth, "Then why drop the hint earlier?"

Grimmjow's grin widened as he managed to beat back the captain's blade. As he began to win the clash, Toshiro jumped back. Grimmjow raised a hand and flicked his wrist, shooting three compact projectiles at Hitsugaya, who curled his wings into a ball around him to dodge. "I let it slip out on accident. I'm only ok with it because you're gonna die anyways!"

The projectiles slammed into Hitsugaya's wings and shattered them on contact. Hitsugaya looked stunned as the number of icy lotus petals hovering behind him dropped to nine.

"How is it that the mere Sexta Espada can so easily defeat me, especially with such a slight power increase?" Toshiro asked cautiously. "I was much better than you when we were both fighting without our final releases, and my power has increased tenfold since Daiguren Hyorinmaru was released."

Grimmjow grinned maliciously. "I guess this is just me at full power!"

Hitsugaya knew the true reason for his massive disadvantage: He still had his limiter on him. He was only at 20% power right now, so his supposed ten-times increase from his Bankai only doubled his Shikai's strength, as it would be without the limiter. Grimmjow, on the other hand, was unlimited—with four limbs now available to him and his own tenfold increase, the math was clear: Grimmjow now could overpower Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya was fighting with the strength of two Shikais, while Grimmjow was fighting with the power of a Bankai. The fight would be much different if he was able to fight at full power, but alas, this was not the case. Unfortunately, Hitsugaya's assessment of Grimmjow showed that even after Gentei Kaijo, he would still only be able to win after releasing Bankai.

The number of lotus petals dropped to eight.

"Hey, Shinigami, I can't help but notice that you've got some dissolving stuff behind your back. Is that like a time limit or something?"

Hitsugaya was silent. He had been training in his inner world with Hyorinmaru ever since the previous attack to try and complete his Bankai; he was only just barely subject to the time limit anymore. If the raid on Karakura had come not two weeks later, this would already be a very different fight indeed—even with the limiter, at his current level, Hitsugaya would be able to hold his own against the Sexta. Idf the limiter was removed, perhaps his future self would even be on the level of, say, the Tercera.

Grimmjow laughed. "I guess if I can hold you off long enough, you'll drop outta Bankai on your own! That won't be hard, seeing as I'm stronger than you already!"

Hitsugaya tensed. _'I can't last much longer with the power limiter… If I stay completely on the defense, I won't have to expend as much energy. Perhaps if I survive long enough, someone will finish their fight and come to help.'_

Hitsugaya shifted his stance, and Grimmjow noticed. "What, you think that holding out is gonna help you? News flash, kid, you don't have all day!"

Hitsugaya calmly responded, "I've seen your power increase from your Resurección, and it was not that much. I still can overpower you if I so desire." This was a blatant lie, but there was no need for Grimmjow to know that.

Grimmjow, though, was smarter than Toshiro had given credit for. "Yeah? If that's the case, how come I don't have a scratch on me? Also, you would still have wings!"

Hitsugaya frowned as the wings began to reform. "My Bankai is created from condensed water and reiatsu, forced down to a freezing temperature. As long as there is water in the surroundings, my Bankai can continue to reform without limit. You can never separate me from my Bankai!"

With that, the dragon wings were complete once more and they flexed, as if to act imposing. Grimmjow was not impressed. "Fine, then. I'll just kill you instead!"

He charged Hitsugaya, who deftly sidestepped. The number of petals dropped to seven.

Grimmjow quickly reversed directions and came back at the young prodigy. "Not enough!" Hitsugaya hadn't been expecting such a quick counter-attack, and only barely managed to duck as Grimmjow went sailing over his head.

As it was, Grimmjow managed to catch three of the lotus petals, smashing them to bits. Hitsugaya only had four petals—four minutes to defeat the Arrancar, or he would die.

Grimmjow laughed and turned, claw outstretched. From there, it was a lot of the same: slash, dodge, kick, block, punch, counter. Grimmjow didn't really vary his attacks that much from that point onward; Hitsugaya was just trying to survive, and Grimmjow didn't seem to be keen on ending the fight. Of course, Hitsugaya desperately needed a tactic to win with—he was down to two ice petals.

"You know," he said between attacks, "It's not often I can find someone who can match me in my Resurección, even when I'm holding back this much! I wanna drag this fight out as long as possible!"

Hitsugaya faltered a bit and Grimmjow scored a strike to his sword arm. It was a glancing blow, but it was enough to slow down Hitsugaya even more. Realizing his situation, Hitsugaya jumped back. "You're holding back? May I ask how much?"

Grimmjow glanced at his own arm. "I dunno. I just know that if I went all out right not, you'd only last for a minute or so."

Hitsugaya scowled. "If you truly believe that, then you know nothing about Shinigami affairs. I am currently fighting you at twenty percent of my maximum. The fight would have a different outcome if I were to be unfettered."

Grimmjow scoffed. "And if I hadn't eaten breakfast this morning, I would be hungry. Life is full of 'if's,' kid. Why don't you throw that 'if I were at full strength' down the toilet?" Hitsugaya felt his heart drop through his stomach. His second-to-last petal was gone.

Grimmjow suddenly vanished, and Hitsugaya felt a sharp pain through both of his shoulders. He looked down to see two projectiles, the same that had destroyed Daiguren Hyorinmaru's wings, embedded in his shoulders. "Oh sh—" He didn't get to finish the thought, though, as the darts exploded and ripped through his upper torso as if it was so much rice paper. He dropped his sword; it fell to the earth below. His final lotus petal shattered, and the wings of ice disappeared. His sword sealed itself.

Grimmjow laughed as his opponent helplessly stared him down. "You know, if you didn't have that incomplete Bankai, I think you might've had a chance at killing me, even with that limit thing you mentioned. It's a shame that both of those things got in your way."

Hitsugaya felt hopeless. He desperately glanced over at the other two fights. Urahara and Yammy were too far away to see, and Luppi had incapacitated all three of his opponents. His entire body felt as if it had turned to lead at the sight. He looked back at Grimmjow, simultaneously resigned but not willing to give up. It was a strange feeling, but it was one that he knew—he had experienced it while fighting Gin back before the betrayal.

Grimmjow's claws on his right arm began to glow. "Now, I'm gonna finish you off with my ultimate technique!" He pulled his arm back, and Hitsugaya unsuccessfully attempted to make his body move. He had lost too much blood.

"Desgarrón!"

Scythes of energy unleashed themselves from Grimmjow's claws and hurtled towards Hitsugaya. The fight was over.

* * *

Urahara sized up his opponent. "Ah, it's so good to see you again, Arrancar! I remember our previous encounter vividly!" His cheerful voice was almost OVERLY cheerful. "Although, I believe in all our misadventures, I never got your name! Imagine that! My name is Urahara Kisuke, owner and proprietor of Urahara's Candy Shop!"

Yammy laughed. "Yammy Rialgo, Décima Espada. I remember you all too well! You were the one who stopped me from killing that orange-haired guy! And now, I get a chance to get my revenge!"

Urahara snapped open his ever-present fan. "Oh my, so eager to begin! I'm afraid I must inquire about the little one standing behind you first." He pointed at Wonderweiss, who was staring intently at Urahara, drool dripping out of his mouth.

"Uuuuaaaaaoooo…."

Urahara cocked his head to the side slightly, trying to look both off-putting and agreeable at the same time. He knew that the kid had Espada-level reiatsu, and there was no reason his fighting ability should be different. Perhaps the boy had given up his intelligence in order to achieve this level. Of course, that was only one of many theories…

"Oh, that idiot? That's Wonderweiss. Don't pay any attention to him, he knows when I've staked out my prey!" But Wonderweiss, whatever went on in his mind, decided that he wasn't going to let Yammy take another victim. At least, that's the impression he gave as he suddenly blurred in front of Yammy using Sonido. "Hey! You little twat! What're you doing?! I've got a score to settle here!"

Wonderweiss merely kept drooling. Urahara tensed up, knowing that the mentally disabled Wonderweiss was not going to simply stare at him for much longer, and he was right. Within two seconds of this deduction, Wonderweiss's fist glowed for a brief moment before a wave of energy was sent directly at him. Urahara deftly dodged and barely spared a glance over his shoulder before raising Benihime to block a strike from Wonderweiss.

The strike never came, because Yammy had smacked Wonderweiss across the forehead, promptly sending him flying into the ground. A small cloud of dust arose where he impacted.

Urahara waved a hand. "My, my, you shouldn't treat your fellow Espada like that! He is your ally after all."

Yammy spat. "Margera? An Espada? Don't make me laugh. That boy is nowhere near Espada level, no matter what it might look like! Besides, he got in my way, so he was taken care of!"

Urahara stopped smiling. "I see. Either way, I am curious to know one thing: What was that technique?" His eyes narrowed slightly from the shadow cast by his hat. "You see, I've never encountered anything like it before."

Yammy laughed, obviously amused. "You've never seen a Bala before, yet you still want to fight an Espada? Man, you've got guts!" Yammy's fist began to glow and crackle with electric bolts, similar to Wonderweiss. "A Bala is a projectile of reiryoku! We solidify our energy and send it flying towards the opponent! It's not quite as strong as a Cero, but it's twenty times faster!"

With that, Yammy punched the air, and a solid mass of energy flew towards Urahara. The shopkeeper deftly dodged to the side, but was still nicked. He had thought that Yammy's Bala, as it was called, would be of similar speed and strength as Wonderweiss's, seeing as they both had roughly the same amount of reiryoku, but Yammy was both faster and stronger. Urahara mentally tucked away the thought until he could determine why later on, and turned to face Yammy.

Only to get smacked head on by another Bala.

Urahara flew to the ground, similar to how Wonderweiss had earlier, and disappeared among the trees. He frowned and rubbed his torso a little and looked up to the sky where Yammy was laughing. _'I really need to stop thinking about possible experiments in the midst of battle.'_ He noticed, suddenly, that Wonderweiss was back in the air, at his side. He felt a cold dread fill his stomach—that Arrancar was not only powerful, but fast and quiet. Not to mention, his mental disability would make his opponents underestimate him. He was the perfect attacker—if he decided to attack, of course. Urahara hesitantly concluded that Wonderweiss didn't want to attack, but only wanted to spectate. After all, children with diseases similar to Down Syndrome were attracted to pretty colors and lights—at least, as far as he knew. Living children weren't really his specialty.

All of this took place inside Urahara's mind in the space of a single second, leaving him plenty of time to enact his plan.

He grinned, pulled out a small, greenish-black pod that looked like a Gikon, and blew into a small opening. The timing was very precise with this invention, so he needed to be veeeery careful…

Up above, Yammy was laughing. "You see? Only a single Bala, and you're already down! Here, have some more! Die, die DIE!" With that, Yammy began to fire Balas, one after another, down to where he last saw Kisuke. He grinned and continued to laugh with extreme pleasure as he felt every one of the Balas connect.

After a solid minute of firing and hitting, Yammy concluded that the man had to be dead after being hit with so many of his favorite attacks, and stopped, until he heard a voice from behind him. "Oh dear, I'm afraid you seem to be having trouble hitting me."

Yammy whirled around to see Urahara right behind him, smiling as if they were two friends discussing lunch plans. "You!" He hissed in disbelief.

"Me," Urahara agreed. "I'm sure you're wondering how I managed to dodge all of those attacks. After all, I'm sure you felt every single one of them connect with a body. The answer is this…" Yammy watched with disbelief and shock as Urahara pulled out another one of the Gikon-like balls and blew into it.

Slowly, the ball grew, and grew… and with a "pop" noise, it suddenly resembled Urahara Kisuke, complete with the bucket hat and sandals. "It's a portable Gigai!" Urahara exclaimed with glee. "I simply swap places with this little thing at the last second, and avoid all damage! It's really quite ingenious, but the timing is very difficult, so only I can use it at the moment. I don't think using it at this close range would do much, but I don't think that I need it anymore against your Balas."

Yammy growled. "How dare you! I've never heard of such a thing before! Keeping secrets, like a coward, are you?" Yammy growled and tensed up.

Urahara ignored him and continued. "You see, you used that attack so many times in a row, I was able to get a good read on exactly how it's used. I watched how the veins and sinews in your arms pulsed as you fired, so I know exactly which nerves to sever so that you cannot use it anymore. Your right arm appears to be significantly weaker than your left, and I calculated the average time between shots, so I know that the charge up time for a Bala is approximately zero point seven five seconds. Using similar, simple mathematics, I saw that the average speed of your Balas is eighty-five miles per hour (137 kilometers). You cannot so much as touch me with any form of Bala anymore."

As Urahara concluded his mini-speech, Yammy's eyebrow twitched. "You think you're so smart, don't you, Shinigami?"

Urahara smiled modestly. "I sometimes like to think so. And please, call me Kisuke."

Yammy's entire face twitched. "Oh? You're feeling so familiar, are you? Well then, let's see how you feel about this!"

Yammy pulled back his fist again, and Urahara drew a circle in the air with Benihime's tip. "You just don't get it…" A red, slightly transparent shield appeared within the drawn circle, and when Yammy's fist made contact, it completely canceled out. "I cannot be harmed by you. You will never hurt me."

Yammy's face paled as he realized exactly what was going on, but his pallor was quickly replaced with a color that was equally as red as it had been white. "Bitch! I will kill you!"

Urahara lightly stepped to the side, dodging. "I can't help but notice that your right arm is much weaker than your left. Was it regenerated since our last fight, or reattached? The second would make more sense, but both of them are possibilities."

Yammy threw another punch. This was REALLY ticking him off. "Shut UP!"

Urahara giggled slightly. "Your rage won't benefit you in this fight! I'm simply out of your league! There's nothing you can do to me!"

Yammy didn't stop; he kept throwing punches and Urahara kept dodging. After a while, the two disengaged, and Yammy was definitely the worse off of the two—Urahara wasn't even scratched.

Urahara's fan was back out. "Oh my, you've made me break a sweat! I may have underestimated you!" The sarcasm in his voice was extremely well hidden—an observer would simply put it off as his goofy behavior—but it was not lost on Yammy, who charged him… Or maybe Yammy was just even angrier than before. Either or.

Urahara shunpo'd to the back of Yammy and put some distance between the two of them. "Come, it's time to finish this. Sing…"

That's when the kick connected with the back of Urahara's head, making him drop his sword.

* * *

Inoue trembled at the sight of the man before her. She glanced back to the Senkaimon that opened into Soul Society. Kon was already through; there would be no chance of opening the same exact portal to the Dangai Precipice World. The Arrancar had her trapped unless she could get through and join the Shinigami.

As she started to flee—her instincts told her to get away from the Arrancar—he blurred from behind her to in front of her.

"Woman, I am Ulquiorra Cifer. I am here to escort you to Hueco Mundo."

Inoue trembled. His soulless, green eyes pierced her, making her feel cold inside. The mask fragment on his head identified him as a Hollow, yes, but why did his presence make her feel so helpless? It's not as if she had never faced a Hollow before. She registered his words and tried to raise her hands to her hairpins, but after she tried to summon her shield, her hairpins sparkled feebly.

Ulquiorra's eye seemed to twitch in bemusement for a fraction of a fraction of a second at this attempt at resistance, but only an extremely perceptive person would have caught it. "It appears that your ability to resist is based upon your will to fight. Although, it would not matter regardless. I am too strong for you to match. I have been ordered by Aizen-sama to take you to Las Noches."

Orihime summed up the courage to speak: "What will you do with me?"

Ulquiorra was as impassive as ever. "I was not informed of the circumstances as to why Aizen-sama require your attendance. I was only told to retrieve you immediately."

Orihime, now that she had spoken, began to feel more and more confident—at least, as confident as one could be in her situation. "How did you get here?" She asked. And it was a valid question—even Urahara had only set up this specific passage minutes ago, so how could anyone in Hueco Mundo know where in the Dangai this tunnel was, let alone infiltrate it?

"I do not think it is necessary for you to know that information, Woman. All you need to know is that you will be taken. Resistance is futile."

Inoue tried to stop, but her concern for her friends made her keep pressing. "But what about my friends? They'll notice that I'm gone! They'll come after me! I don't want them to get hurt! Why can't you let me go back?"

Ulquiorra remained completely static. "Aizen-sama originally intended for you to be given twenty-four hours to say goodbye to a single person. I do not know why the change was made."

Inoue felt her stomach sink. She knew why—if she had been given that opportunity, that chance to say goodbye, she would have gone to Kurosaki-kun. But now that he was gone, she didn't know whom she would have said goodbye to if she had been allowed to return. Aizen must have heard about Kurosaki-kun, he must have known he was…gone. Not dead, just gone. Aizen knew about Kurosaki-kun; he was able to know within hours of when it happened. Did that mean that everything that had transpired was within Aizen's grasp? How much else did he know? Were ANY of her friends safe?

Somehow, even as thoughts such as those went through Inoue's head, she didn't once question her own safety—which was, as far as she knew, the most endangered.

Ulquiorra watched Inoue as she wept gently for some odd minutes, and then grabbed her arm. Inoue flinched at the contact—his skin was cold; it felt unforgiving. "Come, woman. Time is different in this world. What have been several minutes to you has been half an hour in your world. We must not waste time, lest Aizen-sama be displeased."

"Why?" Inoue managed to choke out as Ulquiorra began to walk. "Why do you do this? Why are you following that man so absolutely? Don't you have free will of your own? Don't you have a heart?"

Ulquiorra paused slightly, then continued walking, pulling her along by the sleeve. "Woman, there is much you do not comprehend. That fact makes nonsense come out of your mouth. The weak must serve the strong, and the trash must serve the weak. That is all there is. Aizen-sama is strong, and any other perceptions are illusions of the mind." Inoue looked down, resigned, as the Arrancar led her along down the path he had chosen.

With Kurosaki-kun gone, did she really have any reason to stay home? Did she really need to go into battle? A voice in her mind reminded her about Sado-kun, Ishida-kun, and all the Shinigami who had become their friends; but Ulquiorra's presence inspired hopelessness, and when one added that to her already-weakened emotional state, it was easy to forget what one was fighting for.

Her hairpins had stopped glowing altogether.

* * *

_**END OF CHAPTER**_

_**Wow, writing that chapter left a bad taste in my mouth. I hate making the characters look so helpless; it just makes me feel like everything is all gloom and doom… Which it kinda is.**_

_**Also, I wanted to let you know that the next chapter and this chapter were originally intended to be a single one, but the sheer length made me decided to hold off on writing it until after this first half was posted. I assure you, the wait between this chapter and the next will not be as long as the wait between the last chapter and this one! I WILL explain why Renji collapsed last chapter, and I will conclude all of the fights.**_

_**Ahem… So, what did you think? Let me know, please! And, as always, time for review responses!**_

_**JanusTheUnlucky7 – Thanks for your vote of confidence. And don't worry, the next update will be quicker than this one—the other chapter is already planned out, scene-by-scene. All that's left is to write it down!**_

_**Guest (anon) (AKA Herobrine) – Thanks for the tip; I tried to do that here, but I'm not sure if I succeeded; did I? Oh, and one more thing: Stop haunting my single-player mines! :D**_

_**Rumu – Your wish is my command; here you go!**_

_**Silent Hero 13 – Happy Holidays to you, too (albeit a little late, hehe….). Glad you enjoyed that last chapter. And it's ok, take as much time as you need to with your own stories—in your eyes, it should be much more important than mine.**_

_**Ihas no clue – Thank you; I'm glad someone thinks my attempts at humor in the first few chapters wasn't really forced. And I hope it IS epic; that's what I'm aiming for. You know, shoot for the moon and all that jazz?**_

_**Reviews welcome, critics even more so. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter! **_


	8. More Fights, Even More Talking

_**Apologies for making the wait so long, even after I said it wouldn't be too long last time. To make up for it, here's a chapter that's ten thousand words long. 0_0**_

* * *

_Urahara shunpo'd to the back of Yammy and put some distance between the two of them. "Come, it's time to finish this. Sing…"_

_That's when the kick connected with the back of Urahara's head, making him drop his sword._

* * *

Urahara didn't look surprised. He didn't even look worried. He turned to see his assailant and smiled. The attacker's face looked angry.

"What're you smilin' at Baldy?"

The Vizard had arrived.

* * *

Luppi's spiked tentacle ran itself straight at Yoruichi, who struggled in vain to break free of the two other tentacles that restrained her. Yumichika and Ikkaku looked on in horror from their own tentacle-prisons.

Then, a gust of wind blew by, and all five offending tentacles were suddenly sliced off. Yoruichi's heart nearly stopped when she looked down. "Kensei!"

The army man barely looked at her, while the green-haired woman was waving like a maniac. "Tachikaze comes with his very own Air Blades. Pretty handy, don't you think?"

* * *

Toshiro looked up at the man-no, beast-covered in white armor, whose claws were glowing.

"Desgarrón!" It shouted.

Toshiro stared up at Grimmjow and waited for death-Hyorinmaru was unable to sustain release any longer, and everyone else was too busy to assist. He could not win. He prepared himself to dodge, but a voice in his mind told him it was hopeless.

That's when a golden whip slashed Grimmjow's arm and caused the blue light coming from his claws—the Desgarrón—to dissipate.

Toshiro, with his limited movement, looked towards his savior. It was a man with golden hair and a pleasant expression. "My name is Rojuro Otoribashi. Please, call me Rose."

* * *

Urahara looked very, very pleased, despite the fact that Yammy was now regaining his composure, listening to his exchange with Hiyori. "I was wondering when you people would all show up," he said, watching as the rest of the Vizard took the field, aiding his own fallen companions. "To be honest, I was expecting you to arrive slightly sooner."

Hiyori kicked him again, directly in the face. "Shut up! We're here cause we're mad at you, not because we like you. We just need answers, and we can't get them from you if you're dead."

Urahara grinned sheepishly. "I see, I see. So, now that you are here, would you mind aiding me? You see, I was originally outnumbered two to one, but now that you're here—"

"I said shut up, Baldy!" Hiyori sniffed and then turned to size up both Yammy and the young boy standing behind him. "These two? The fat one looks weak, and the skinny one is just a kid. You really would be having trouble with them?"

Yammy overheard this exchange. "Fat? Why you…" He drew back his fist just in time for Hiyori to suddenly appear right in his face and draw her sword. She sliced directly through his arm.

"Like I said. Weak," Hiyori said with much disdain.

Urahara feigned surprise. "Ah, Yammy-san, twice in one month! As you would say, Mala Suerte!"

Yammy twitched in anger. "You got lucky, punk!"

Hiyori twitched similarly. "Who're you callin' lucky, Baldy?"

Urahara suppressed a chuckle as he observed the similarities between Hiyori and Yammy. "Thank you Hiyori-chan, but I was referring to the child standing behind Yammy. I could never bring myself to hit a child."

Hiyori dodged a swing from Yammy and glanced back. "You kidding, Kisuke? THAT'S why you need my help?" She snorted. "Pathetic."

Urahara grinned. "Oh, Hiyori, you wound me with your words! Remember way back when? We were SO close with each other!"

Hiyori was back, engaged with Yammy again, and called out to Urahara without turning around. "Please, I was only your Vice because I couldn't get a squad transfer!"

Urahara smiled as he watched the Vizard take on the Espada. The two were so similar; it was almost eerie. Watching the rage-driven Arrancar fighting against the short-tempered Vizard was like watching two mirror images. If the war had not placed the two on opposite sides of conflict, he could easily see a universe in which the two got along quite nicely. He allowed the two to fight for a moment before he decided it was time to take over the fight with Yammy and delegate Wonderweiss to Hiyori. He retrieved Benihime from when he had dropped it and shunpo'd to the scene of conflict, placing his blade between the two competitors. "As much as I like watching this fight, I would say it is rather one-sided, wouldn't you agree?"

Yammy's one arm clenched and unclenched. "I was off-guard, so shut your mouth!"

Hiyori snorted. "Please. As if you could ever hurt me. Even if you were off-guard before, you only have one arm now, so give up before I slice off your head as well!" Yammy was about to retort when Wonderweiss chose that exact moment to reenter the fray. He drew his sword, which nobody knew the name of, and sliced at Hiyori, who reacted out of instinct and moved to the side. "Whoa there!"

Wonderweiss stared straight at Hiyori. "Uuuuaaaahhh…."

Hiyori stared right back. "What the hell is your problem?"

Wonderweiss replied by crouching, tensing his muscles. Hiyori recognized the stance and brought her sword up to block. Her prediction was correct, and Wonderweiss charged, drawing his claymore as he did so. Hiyori braced for impact, and her eyes widened when Wonderweiss's blade actually pushed hers back down towards her face, even after placing a hand on the blade to increase stopping power.

Hiyori broke contact and growled. "Fine, that's the way you want to play?" Her hand twitched towards her face. She pulled, and her spiny mask formed over her face, releasing a wave of reiatsu. "THEN LET'S PLAY!" The warped tones echoed as the two both disappeared with the buzz of sonido. The sound of steel clashing on steel rang out.

Urahara shunpo'd over to Yammy and nudged him in the rib. "Nice to see that our friends are getting along, eh?" Yammy responded with a punch that Urahara easily blocked. "Oh come now, do we really need to fight at every moment? It's interesting to see how one of our middle-top class soldiers fight against someone who's equal to the Primera." Urahara also thought it was interesting how Hiyori always reached for her mask before releasing her zanpakuto.

Yammy snorted as he decided it wasn't worth it to fight someone he couldn't kill—that man wasn't the one who had chopped off his arm, anyways, so there was no grudge. "That child is nowhere near Starrk."

Urahara raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Your strongest fighter is named Starrk?"

Yammy looked as if he was about to say something, but suddenly gritted his teeth and nodded. Urahara took this to mean Yammy was the strongest; he would only say something to the contrary if he knew there was someone stronger than this Starrk person. By numbering, Starrk would be the strongest, so therefore if someone was stronger than Starrk, it would be anonymously, and Yammy would only be privy to his own hidden strength. It was only logical to assume for him outclassing the best. Of course, the way he was, he was the weakest of the Espada. The only answer would be that Yammy grew much more powerful when he released his sword.

He didn't mention this out loud, though. He tucked the information away and became convinced of the necessity to kill Yammy. "I see. I bet 'Lord Aizen' would be terribly mad if he knew you told me that."

Yammy froze, and then relaxed. "Whatever Lord Aizen doesn't know won't hurt him."

Urahara prodded Yammy a little. "But it could hurt you. I mean, there's a lot of stuff you don't know."

Yammy's forehead throbbed with a vein. _'He's stronger than you, Yammy,'_ he heard a voice in his head. _'He'll kill you!' _Yammy growled. _Not if I release!_

Urahara continued. "I mean, for your head size, you'd think more brains would be in there."

Yammy had it. He reached for his sword…

And then the golden light of negación descended upon him. The giant looked up. "The mission's over, then?" He looked at Urahara. "You, don't think that this is over! Next time we meet, I'll kill you!" With that, the giant was swept up into the Garganta above.

Hiyori's unseen, loud fight suddenly stopped as the light halted Hiyori's blade.

Her mask broke off at that exact moment, so it was hard to tell who's life would have been spared if the light hadn't descended. Wonderweiss sheathed his sword with a simple stare up to the crack in the sky. "Uuuuaaaooooo…." He said.

Hiyori sheathed Orochi. "So that's it, then? You got lucky, Baldy! Next time, finish our fight before you retreat! Coward!"

Wonderweiss did nothing but stare as he was swept up.

* * *

Kensei stood and stared at the male (?) Arrancar standing before him. "Yo."

Luppi's fury suddenly dissipated. "Hello there. And who might you be?"

Mashiro suddenly burst out from absolutely nowhere. "I'M MASHIRO!" She held up a peace sign towards Luppi and winked. Kensei sweat dropped.

"Must you always be so insufferably upbeat?"

Mashiro pouted. "Must you always be so saddeningly sad?"

A rage mark appeared on Kensei's forehead. "You can't use the word sad to describe the word sad! It doesn't make sense!, and I don't even thing 'saddeningly' is a word!"

Mashiro crossed her arms. "Well, you should make more sense, but you don't."

Kensei rubbed his temple. Sometimes, he wondered why he put up with her… He looked up at Luppi, who was eyeing the scene with a mixture of amusement, annoyance, and bloodlust. "Hey woman, think you can help me vent my frustration?"

Luppi's face contorted with rage and a red mist fell over her eyes. "I AM NOT A WOMAN!"

Kensei stared at her for a few seconds. "Huh. Could've fooled me."

That was all that he got out before Luppi sent her tentacles at Kensei. The tentacles were shorter, due to Kensei having lopped off that last ten or so feet, but they were still of sizeable length. The only thought that was running through Luppi's mind, no doubt, was to kill the one who had questioned his gender.

Kensei watched as eight attacks closed in above him, trapping all escape…

And ran directly at one of them, punching it backwards and allowing him to jump out of the prison. "Is that all you got?" He taunted. He allowed himself an inward grin, but didn't let his levity show on the outside.

Luppi roared again and reversed the direction of his tentacles. Kensei twirled his combat knife and a sudden gust of wind blew through the area. The wind seemed to almost take physical form where it touched Tachikaze, and directed itself at the tentacles, taking a few more feet off of a few of them.

The cycle was repetitive, Kensei thought. Rage was blinding his opponent. It made attacks stronger, but what good was attack without control? If Luppi didn't hit him, he couldn't get hurt. Such was the battle. It also didn't help Luppi's cause that Kensei was completely fresh, while she had expended quite a bit of energy banishing the pain that had been dealt to her Resurección and in fighting the other three.

Kensei sighed as Luppi thrust forward another attack, this time with only one tentacle. "You really need to just give up, ok?"

Luppi responded the only way an Arrancar in his position could: "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!"

Kensei frowned as he buried Tachikaze up to the hilt in the offending appendage. It blasted apart with a sharp whistle of air. He looked at the Arrancar, who was still seething. "This has gone on long enough. Hang on for just a sec," he reached up with his left hand and covered his face. "I'll go ahead and finish it now." He pulled, and his hockey-like mask covered his face. The veil of anger that Luppi had been using lifted briefly to register shock and surprise. Then, that single look of surprise was forever frozen on the feminine Arrancar's face as his head was liberated.

Kensei withdrew his mask, almost disappointed that the battle was over so fast. "God, that was SO EASY!"

* * *

While Kensei was "fighting" Luppi, Mashiro had skipped over to where the two downed Shinigami and slightly injured ex-Shinigami were watching. "Hi there~!" She chirped.

Ikkaku stared at her, wondering what could possibly be so happy in life that could make this woman so ditzy. She actually reminded him of Yachiru a little bit. Yumichika had similar thoughts.

Yoruichi, though, was the one who answered, seeing as the other two were bleeding out. "Hey Mashiro, long time no see. How've ya been?"

Mashiro gave Yoruichi a giant thumbs up. "Amazing! But, you know, you could've called on us some time. It's been over 100 years, and it's not like you can get exiled a second time for consorting with us."

Yoruichi shrugged. "If I had traces of your reiatsu lingering around me, I couldn't infiltrate my old home to get info. And lord knows that your reiatsu signature hangs around for MONTHS!"

Mashiro shrugged, her smile not leaving her face. "I can't help it if Kensei stinks so bad!"

The two laughed for a moment, relieving some anxiety, but Ikkaku wasn't quite unconscious yet. "Oi, you think you two could help out Yumichika before he dies?" Then, after consideration, he added, "Or me, for that matter." The words tasted like bile in his throat; he hated admitting to weakness in any battle.

Mashiro nodded enthusiastically. "Hachi!" She called out. A large, lumbering mam walked towards the group.

"Yes?"

"Can you heal these guys?"

Hachi nodded. "A simple task. If they're in one piece, they're perfectly fine."

Ikkaku felt relieved. He wasn't going to die. Even if he had been defeated, the words of Zaraki from their first meeting echoed: _"If you lose a fight and survive, it means you were lucky. Use the opportunity to get stronger, and kill the man who beat you!"_ Of course, he was on the edge of unconsciousness, so he didn't see Kensei slicing up the Arrancar like it was nothing.

He also didn't hear Hachi say, "Of course, I will have to knock out the bald one so he can heal faster. The one of questionable fashion taste is already unconscious, and Yoruichi here is not that badly injured." Ikkaku lost consciousness as the sleeping kido took effect.

* * *

Toshiro Hitsugaya could not believe his luck. The man, Rose, had saved his life within three seconds of it being destroyed. He opened his mouth to ask some questions, but another voice behind him stopped him. "Leave Rose to his business, kid." Hitsugaya turned to see another man, with absurd hair and some ridiculously large sunglasses. "The name's Love."

Hitsugaya's vision swam, but he didn't let his weakness show. "Who are you people?" He needed to know why these people, who obviously weren't Shinigami, were helping him.

Love frowned. "I just said it, didn't I? I'm Love." He gestured. "That's Rose."

Rose bowed. "Like I said, a pleasure."

Hitsugaya frowned; he didn't understand at all, but he didn't bother questioning the help. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and there would be time for questions after the battle.

Grimmjow, though, did not enjoy being interrupted and promptly ignored. "Oi, what gives? You can't interrupt a battle before it's over!"

Rose grimly smiled. "I'm afraid it was already over when we arrived, Arrancar. We simply stopped you from finishing him."

Love jumped from Hitsugaya's level to Rose's. "Now, you have two more opponents to fight. Ready?"

Grimmjow recognized the odds stacked against him. In his mind, he was stronger than any single fighter in the world, but if that man was able to stop his Desgarrón, then the two of them together might be trouble… He crossed his arms. "Nope, one on one only. Anything else is an admission of weakness."

Rose cracked his whip. "Even so, if we take you on together, victory is guaranteed."

Grimmjow cracked his knuckles. "Look," he boasted, "I just want to crack some skulls, ok? Gimme someone to kill, and I'll do it. With two or more, all I can do is maim."

Love shrugged. "Look, man, nothing against you personally, just against your species." With that, the pair charged.

Grimmjow used sonido to get out of the way and slashed at the two, but Love drew his zanpakuto and blocked. Rose twirled around and swung Kinshara, Grimmjow grabbed it and pulled, but Love sliced at Grimmjow's arm, forcing him to let go. Rose then used the momentum from Grimmjow's pull to charge again. Grimmjow dropped down under the wide arc of the whip and fired two Garras de Pantera.

One of them sliced Rose's cheek, while the other missed both fighters entirely. Rose jumped back in order to get a little better leverage, and Grimmjow took the opportunity to gain ground, charging at the two. Love took the reigns of battle by blocking Grimmjow's right arm with his sword. He swung upwards with Tengumaru and nicked Grimmjow's finger. Grimmjow didn't let it faze him, and he slashed with his other claw, slicing Love's face.

Rose swung his whip again, but just before it reached it's target, he touched three sections of the whip in rapid succession, and the metal flower attached to the end suddenly electrified. Grimmjow tried to grab it, but was treated to an electric shock. He twitched with pain, but shook it off. While still being electrocuted, he attempted to pull Rose closer again, and caught the Vizard off-guard. He slashed at Rose and sliced off a few golden locks of hair, but the Vizard's zanpakuto increased its voltage and forced Grimmjow to relinquish his hold.

"Crush Down! Tengumaru!" Grimmjow looked up just in time to see a giant black club slam into his face. His Hierro held up, but that HURT! The Arrancar fired another Garra de Pantera at Love, who blocked it with his club. The dart exploded, but didn't really harm him that much.

Toshiro watched from below, in amazement. It wasn't at their power; he was certain that he could have taken Grimmjow if he had invoked Gentei Kaijo. What impressed him was how smooth and seamless the teamwork between his pair of saviors. They were completely and utterly outclassing the former Espada at every turn, taking every advantage and capitalizing on every opening. Grimmjow was obviously used to one-on-one fights, so he would focus too much on one assailant and leave himself wide open for the other.

But one question still raced through his brain: Who were these people? Why were they helping him? Not that it was a bad thing, but still! It was not a good idea to be associated with people who had unclear motives. For the time being, though, he was content to let them rip apart the man who had nearly killed him.

Grimmjow was furious; it looked like he still hadn't adjusted to fighting multiple enemies. His breathing was labored, and he was loosing control. The man called Love… He had released his sword, did that mean he was a Shinigami? No, someone with that much power had to be a captain, and he obviously wasn't a part of the Gotei 13. And Rose, too—what were they?

Grimmjow lashed out at Love, who quickly dodged. The Arrancar quickly turned and tried to strike Rose, but was once again out sped. "Why won't you die?" He growled.

Rose and Love flashed to a point facing Grimmjow. "Why? Because we're simply more artistic than you."

With that, the pair dashed forward and Grimmjow's eyes widened.

And then the golden negación descended upon the panther, blocking him off from the others. Grimmjow looked almost relieved, but the face was quickly gone. He seemed to not like the fact that he had to be saved. Grimmjow dropped out of Resurección. "You… You won't ever defeat me! This is a sign that I'm supposed to live! And next time…" He paused, and his voice picked up a great deal of malice. "Next time, I'll be the one who's about to kill you!"

And then, Grimmjow's newfound arm disintegrated. Hitsugaya, barely conscious at this point, thanked the heavens. Grimmjow just stared in shock as he was raised into the hole in the sky.

Love and Rose sealed their swords and nodded at each other. "I guess his body didn't have enough reiryoku to sustain such a powerful healing process while sealed. If he had remained in his Resurección for long enough, I'm sure his arm would have been permanent," Love remarked.

Hitsugaya choked on his own blood for a minute before his vision clouded, making a loud enough noise to garner the attention of his saviors. The last words he heard were: "Think we should help him even though he's a Shinigami, Rose?"

Hitsugaya hoped they would.

* * *

Urahara smiled as he watched the holes in the sky close. "Well, that wraps things up. I suppose it's time to go back to the shop and see how Matsumoto-san is doing on her Bankai training."

"And you're not even going to introduce us?" Rose asked, dumping an unconscious captain unceremoniously into Hachi's healing field. "That's not very sophisticated. And it's rude, as well." Urahara didn't bother pointing out that dumping a bloody and broken person into a very uncomfortable position was equally rude.

Instead, he waved his ever-present fan. "Come now, we all know that they'll instantly hate your guts as much as you hate theirs. You did allow Ichigo's hollow to consume him, did you not?"

Hiyori smacked Urahara with a sandal. "Yeah, well he was gonna get eaten anyways if we hadn't stepped in!"

Urahara rubbed the point of contact, feigning pain. "Oh, so harsh, Hiyori-chan! Why can't you be more like Mashiro?" Mashiro let out a squeal of happiness at being complimented. Kensei rolled his eyes. Everyone else didn't react. Urahara continued. "Anyways, it's nice seeing all of you again. I'm so flattered that every last one of you came out to see me."

Love crossed his arms. "Well, we want answers, buddy. You know how it is, with the current problem falling under your umbrella of expertise."

Lisa, though, picked up on Urahara's strange wording. "You said every last one of us was here. Shinji isn't, though."

Urahara's face darkened. "I know." He decided that frivolity would be very unfitting in this situation.

Fortunately, he was saved from an awkward and potentially dangerous situation by Ikkaku, who suddenly sat up gasping, startling everyone but Hachi. "Where?" He shouted to nobody in particular. He glanced around, breathing heavily, completely healed. "Where are the Arrancar?"

"Dead," Hiyori said. In a monotone.

"And gone," added Lisa, smiling a bit at her own reference.

Ikkaku frowned. "But I wanted to break some bones! How come I can never catch a break?"

Kensei walked up and stared the bald third-seat in the eye. "Kid, I saved you ass back there. You shouldn't be so brash."

Ikkaku gave Kensei a once-over. "You're the one who defeated my opponent, right? So to redeem myself, I have to defeat you!" Everyone else sweat dropped at the proclamation, except the speaker himself.

Kensei frowned. "You… You don't want to know who I am?"

Ikkaku shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Only the winner of a fight tells his name, so that means you need to know me! Ikkaku Madarame, third seat of Zaraki's division!"

Kensei stared at Ikkaku for just a moment before he grinned and held out a hand. "Kensei Muguruma, unofficial leader of the Vizard."

Everyone stiffened, including Urahara. He had hoped to keep the identity of the Vizard, the so-called masked army, until later. The only one who had used her mask was Hiyori, so it was conceivable that he could pretend they didn't have masks.

Ikkaku, though, didn't notice the Freudian slip (or if he did, he didn't let them know), and clasped Kensei's arm. "I'll be sure to fight you to the brink of death once the war's over!"

Lisa interrupted. "Surely you're curious as to who we are, aren't we?"

Ikkaku shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I'll take your names, but I couldn't care less who you are. You saved my life, so you're my friends."

Urahara smiled inwardly. If only the rest of the Shinigami had that attitude, his life would be SO much easier.

Now all that was left was to wait for the rest of the Shinigami to wake up and introduce everyone. They did, and after thanking Hachi, they introduced themselves.

Urahara quickly observed who seemed to get along with who: Lisa and Hitsugaya seemed like a fair matchup (silent and analytical), while Yumichika was already practically best friends with Rose. Urahara absently wondered how Orihime would get along with Hachi, or how Chad would get along with Love.

Overall, the two groups seemed to like each other. Urahara made a quick gesture to Kensei, and the intended message was understood: _Don't let them know about the masks._

After allowing Hachi some time to rest (he had just healed an entire team's worth of Shinigami, after all), Urahara piped up. "Well, it's been great letting everyone get to know each other, but I think it's time to go check up on Rangiku-san. Leaving her alone with her zanpakuto was rather uncharitable of us, wouldn't you say?"

* * *

"I see you haven't changed venue at all, Urahara," Lisa remarked dryly, sitting down and glancing at the shopkeeper.

The former captain in question smiled. "What can I say? I don't need much, and I live modestly."

Cries of outrage sounded from the front room, and then Hiyori burst into the meeting room where Urahara, the Shinigami, and the rest of the Vizard were sitting. "Are you serious?" She exclaimed. "Ninety thousand Yen (A/N: roughly 1,000 dollars) for a Gigai?! Back in the Soul Society, they were half as much, maximum!"

Urahara turned his smile on Hiyori. "With so little traffic, I need to make money when I can, Hiyori-chan. And I couldn't help but notice you just referred to the Soul Society in the positive. I see you've at least warmed up to them again, if only a little."

Hiyori's face froze as she was caught by her own words. "I don't!" Was her short response.

Kensei growled at her. "That's all good, Hiyori, but we have more pressing matters at hand."

"Like where Hichigo is!" Mashiro chirped.

Urahara laughed. "Oh my, Mashiro, I must remember to use that name!" His countenance suddenly darkened. "Of course that's if he doesn't find out his own."

Kensei crossed his arms. "Explain, Kisuke."

Hitsugaya spoke up from the corner of the room. "I was somewhat hoping to gather answers as well, Urahara-san. The most I managed to gather before the attack took place was that the Hollow wasn't completely evil."

Cries of outrage filled the room. "Not evil?!" "Shut your pie hole!" "It killed Shinji!" "This is why I hate Shinigami!"

Various other complaints were marked before Urahara decided to intervene. His voice, while quiet, managed to silence the whole room. "Quiet."

The single word held presence, a solemnity that could hardly be related to the jovial man from which it came.

"This is everything I know on the matter of Hollowfication, so listen carefully. I am not likely ever to repeat all of this together again.

"Every soul is divided into three parts: Plus, Hollow, and Shinigami. This is further subdivided into living and dead. The plus part of a soul is the core essence of being. It is the source of intelligence, the source of personality-everything that make a person into a person comes from this third of the soul. However, this third of the soul is also weak. It has no ability to act on its own, no ability to move, walk, speak, or anything else. It is merely a template for other factors to be manufactured off of. From what I have gathered in this past century of living here, the plus part of the soul seems to be actually observable in the form of DNA, which is basically the blueprint for all of a body's structures, functions, and predispositions towards or against something. It's not foolproof, because the surrounding environment can also mold a soul, but the plus part of a soul is comparable to present-day genetics. A plus soul is squishy, and is able to adapt. It can change, but this ability of adaption is somewhat limited upon the transition from life to death.

"The second third of the soul is the Shinigami part, which is the most rigid of the three, the most well-defined in function. This part is what gives a soul the ability to move, to respond to their surroundings in an intelligent manner. One could even call it the willpower of a soul. Without the Shinigami third of a soul, no one would be able to use their intelligence on a level that would respond to conscious desire. In other words, a soul would not be able to consciously move forward towards a goal. The plus third provides why and what a soul does, and the Shinigami third provides the means of controlling these thoughts and feelings consciously. The Shinigami third is what allows a spirit to carry out what the plus third decides it wants.

"The third and final part of a soul is the Hollow third. This is the third that deals with subconscious desire-in other words, instinct. This form of soul is the crudest, the least refined. It responds only to the most basic instinct of all, survival, and it is wild. To understand, subconscious desires override all but the strongest of conscious desires, so it is for all intents and purposes the opposite of the Shinigami third. It is what causes someone to move without thinking, reflexes, and sheer power. It is somewhat adaptable, as it can usually respond to any given stimuli in a test, but that also makes it the hardest to control, near impossible.

"Now, the relationship between these three parts, as well as life and death, is crucial to the way of the universe. If one third of the soul is strong, generally another is weak. Think of it like a three-way scale. The stronger one third is, the more the other two need to work to even things out. A living soul is almost invariably a combination of all three, where the plus third has slight dominance over the other two, which can be balanced or unbalanced, depending on how the soul lives its life. For example, you could have three beakers of dye, one red, one black, and one blue. They could all have equal amounts when they're in the beakers, but when pouring them into a mixing bowl, you don't necessarily need to pour all of each beaker into the bowl, but the amount of liquid you have total is the maximum potential of a being..."

Urahara paused. "Is everyone following? Because if you're not, you can re-read the last paragraph to clarify."

Hiyori looked at the scientist as if something were wrong with him. "What paragraph? What are you-"

"If there are no questions, then I'll get to the crux of the matter," Kisuke continued, as if he hasn't heard her. "So, as I was saying, every being has differing levels of dominance among the three thirds of their soul. A human could be very driven, have strong emotions, yet have no power or ability to act upon these desires. That would be an example of plus dominance. A Hollow could never show an ounce of logic in its life and not have any defining characteristics, yet survive for thousands of years. That is instinctual dominance. Shinigami may have extraordinary power and have conscious control over it, but have little motivation to work outside of duty. That is conscious control without plus motivation.

"Now here's where we come to the matter at hand: Hollowfication. This is a process that anyone is able to do, provided they can control their instinct. To bring back my earlier example, let's say that the three beakers of liquid are synonymous to reiryoku. One could only be comprised of the blue and black liquids-plus and Shinigami-but if one were to pour the entire red beaker of liquid into the mixing bowl, the entire soul would become a lot more like a hollow, but also much more powerful due to the unlocked reiryoku at their disposal. Naturally, this process also makes the Hollow third of the soul much more powerful, and the sum of the other two parts must exceed the Hollow part, otherwise the would would be completely thrown out of balance and the soul in question would fall victim to their instincts. I believe the inner battles that you Vizard went through was your own soul pitting you against your hollow third, seeing if you were strong enough to control it's might with your combined Plus and Shinigami power. Remember, though, that the Plus third provides little power at all, and only serves as a template for personality. So, your inner battle is really a test of which is stronger, your Shinigami ability or your Hollow ability. It's, as you would say, the process of beating your Hollow into submission. It allows you to surf upon the waves of insanity, grants the ability to CONSCIOUSLY use your instinctual power, thus greatly increasing your strength. THAT is Hollowfication."

Urahara paused again. "Are any of you confused?"

Everyone raised their hands. "Yes," the chorused.

Everyone except Lisa, that is. She nodded and responded. "So I guess this means that Kurosaki was doomed from the start? The instinctual part of his soul was stronger than the conscious part of his soul?"

Urahara shook his head. "No, not at all. You see, Kurosaki-san went through some...stressful training before going to rescue Kuchiki-san from the Sogyoku. The point of his training was to restore his Shinigami powers to normal. The training involved encroaching his Spirit chain to a point where Hollowfication would begin and be would be forced to call upon his Shinigami powers to counteract the Hollowfication. But, something unusual happened. As I'm sure you Vizard know, the Hollow portion of one's soul manifests itself as the hollow one would become. At the exact moment Kurosaki-san regained his Shinigami powers, his Hollow powers had manifested as well. His plus spirit was there too, obviously. So, this means that all three of his powers were in perfect harmony and balance all at once. At that point in time, both he and his Hollow were in control at once. Any action that Hichigo-san wanted to do, Kurosaki-san did, and vice-versa. Even his zanpakuto spirit-Zangetsu, I believe is his name-would not notice anything awry. The significance of this is that Hichigo-san's mask was present on Ichigo's face at the time of dual control, and he pulled it off."

For the third time, Urahara paused, but only for dramatic effect.

"Kurosaki-san took off his mask during this state. Since his Hollow was in control as well, that means his Hollow removed its mask, becoming an Arrancar."

There were several intakes of breath, but Urahara didn't stop. "Naturally, this made his Hollow very...weird. The Arrancar that Aizen has been gathering were all made not through Shinigamification-yes, that is a term-but rather through suppression of the Hollow third. The Resurrección is proof-by balancing the scales of the soul through suppression, the being in question can increase strength by a magnitude of order through releasing their zanpakuto and unbalancing the scales in once more.

"But, Hichigo-san is a special case. He did not go through suppression as the other Arrancar did, but rather was formed when Kurosaki-san increased both of their Shinigami abilities. Meaning, my training made his Hollow part stronger-I birthed him, in a sense-while the Shinigami training made him more of an Arrancar than a Hollow.

"Now, Kurosaki-san is a very headstrong and earnest fellow, meaning his Plus portion is stronger than the average Shinigami. If my guesses are correct, it even balances out with his other powers. Of course, Kurosaki-san himself lacked Hollow reiatsu, but Hichigo-san is perfectly balanced as a being. He is the perfect blend of all three soul portions, able to adapt like a Plus, bond to a zanpakuto spirit and use Kido like a Shinigami, and use all abilities granted to an Arrancar, all with ease. He can tip the scales in any direction he wants, so to speak. He can use a Bankai and put more pressure on his Shinigami part. He has the gift of true free will, a gift that nobody with a weak Plus portion could have. And, theoretically, he can perform a Resurrección and tip the scales in the favor or his Hollow third."

With that, Urahara concluded his speech.

* * *

"When are you just gonna give up?!" The bleached man screeched. "Just tell me my goddamn name!"

The Hollow responded with nothing more than a bestial roar that made the sand surrounding him repulse in waves before charging a Cero. His opponent raised his own two fingers and pointed them at the Lizard. Red energy kept being gathered, balls of light forming that were nearly as big as their owners.

Then, they fired, each beam hitting the other. The two being both laughed manically, but the humanoid was obviously less thrilled. The fight had been going on for hours already, and although Hollow Ichigo wasn't exactly tired physically, he was tired of an opponent who refused to budge an inch. In any other battle, he would want to fight for as long as possible, but this was the only truly personal battle he had ever been in.

Sword clashed against claw, yellow sclera locked with yellow pupils. The two were driven by their instincts, able to react without thought, block without thinking. The only difference is that one was able to use thought when it was needed.

Zangetsu had been watching the fight from a rock outcropping, perhaps forty yards away, but he had yet to even move, let alone help either side.

The Lizard roared and began rapidly firing Cero's at a frightening pace. The man deftly used his thick cleaver as a shield and began firing his own array of Cero blasts. After perhaps ten seconds of nothing but thin, quick Ceros, one of the Lizard's got through and hit the Ichigo doppelgänger in the shoulder.

"Gah!" He shouted. He dropped his sword in surprise, which he immediately picked back up. He glared at the bipedal monster. "So that's how you want to play.." There was obvious venom in his voice as he raised his sword. "Getsuga..."

Then, his sword arm suddenly felt like lead and it dropped like a stone. He watched his own shoulder rip and tear from where he had been hit and then over extended it. He had inflicted his own injury. after a second, though, nothin happened. "What the...?" What had just happened? Why were his hollow abilities not kicking in?

Then, the beast spoke. "You... You are me..."

The man's white robes were stained red by his own blood. "Yeah, so what?"

It raised a clawed finger. "You... Fight Hollow self... Then use my ability... Can't be both..."

Hollow Ichigo's intelligent eyes narrowed. "If I AM you, which I am, then how is it even possible for you to deny me my own abilities? And what's my freakin' name?!"

The Hollow laughed. "You...! You not Hollow! You think yes, but you not! You not proven able to be Hollow!"

Hichigo slowly began to spin his sword by the cloth, as if threatening him. "You don't think I'm Hollow enough, do you? You think I'm too much of a Shinigami?"

The Lizard had finished speaking, with its limited intelligence, it was probably unable to maintain focus for any longer. It merely roared.

Hichigo transferred his sword to his good and and raised it, and it began to glow. "You think I'm not a Hollow, and maybe I'm not. But I am not a Shinigami either. I am the middle ground. I am the one who lacks the self-restraint not to rip you into pieces, but still has the intelligence necessary to do it."

The Lizard began to charge a Cero, but Hichigo either didn't care or notice. He just kept talking. "I am the one who has embraced the Hollow half of life and has understood the truth of the Shinigami half."

The Cero reached full strength.

"I am the one who will kill all, the one who doesn't give a FUCK if you're good or evil, so long as you're my enemy." His sword turned a bright blue from the energy radiating off of it. For a moment, one could almost see a hint of amber in his eyes.

The Cero fired.

Hichigo was telling now. "I AM THE ONE WHO WILL ERASE ALL WHO OPPOSE ME! I AM THE ONE WHO WILL SURVIVE! I AM THE NAMELESS WARRIOR!"

The Getsuga fired. It sliced straight through the Cero. It hit the Hollow in the chest. It cut him in half. The monster screamed in agony before the bottom half of its body disintegrated.

Hichigo wasted no time. He immediately had sliced off both arms and cracked the mask of the Hollow as well. He pointed his sword at the Hollow and whispered quietly. "But I guess now I'm not so nameless after all."

The Hollow on the ground suddenly stopped crying out and used the last vestiges of strength it had to look into Hichigo's eyes. It said a command, and it said two words. Then, it dissolved, turning to ash and shooting into the sword itself. The inverted Zangetsu glowed red for a brief moment before returning to it's normal, cloth-wrapped state.

Hichigo stared at it for a moment. He sensed Zangetsu's presence creep up behind him. "Hey Old Man, maybe you should let the horse out for a while. I want to play with him a bit. Maybe give him a little shock. I promise I won't kill him... again."

* * *

Renji awoke in his inner world. He looked around, and frowned. It looked different.

Normally, his inner world manifested itself as a vibrant, loud jungle, with high-reaching branches and closely-packed trees. There were usually clearings every hundred yards in most directions, though, and the clearings themselves usually had diameters of, say, one hundred feet. Despite all the loud jungle ambiance, he had yet to meet anyone there except Zabimaru.

Now, there was something off. The trees seemed darker, the clearing that Renji awoke in felt smaller (even though it wasn't), and the music of the jungle was quieter.

"Hello? Zabimaru?" He called out. This was rather unnerving. He felt so helpless; even his own sword felt lighter.

Then, a giant hand grabbed Renji's neck from behind, slamming him into the ground. "You fool!" A powerful voice rang out.

Renji recognized the Baboon. "Zabimaru!" He cried, struggling free. "What is the meaning of this?"

Renji managed to position himself within Zabimaru's grip in such a way that he was able to see his sword's face, but he was still unable to break free. The snake that was Zabimaru's tail hissed at him. "You let us get broken again!" The malice in its voice was evident.

Renji struggled. "Stop! It's not like I could've done anything! I tried my best!"

The Baboon's stare was murderous. "We have given you the power of a Bankai, Abarai. We have given you the power to right the wrong in the world, the ability to destroy evil!"

"So why..." The snake continued. "...have you lost two fights in a row, breaking us during the second?!"

Renji struggled for breath. "I...I..."

Baboon continued to stare with malice. "You what? You were mentally distracted? You were angry at the Hollow monsters?! Abarai! You were WEAK! You lack the power to make a difference!"

Renji felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders-or maybe, he thought, his neck.

"We have contemplated taking away your Bankai, Abarai Renji," the snake hissed.

Renji was alarmed. "W-what?"

The Snake continued. "When you train at Bankai, your power is magnified tenfold. However, any gains in strength you receive are limited to one tenth what they could have been! Idiot! You have trained hard, yes, but only on endurance! Your strength has been flagging, Abarai! This final crack in the steel of our blade had made us lose faith."

"Do you have any idea how painful it is to have your body ripped in half, Renji?" The baboon asked, grip tightening.

Renji turned purple and began to legitimately choke.

"We felt the Hollow presence in Karakura and knocked you out so you would not participate. You are not ready."

"We will allow you to keep your Bankai, but until you strengthen up, we will not let you fight in any of the upcoming battles. Baboon and I will see to that."

Then, Zabimaru's two halves spoke in unison: "Renji, we only have your best interests in mind. But remember that I am not suicidal, and I am not willing to hurt you. Now go, the fighting has subsided, and the Kuchiki girl that you are so fond of is worrying."

Renji tried to get his mind into the state of Jinzen, so that he might stay and talk some more with his sword, but Zabimaru released a force that PUSHED Renji from his inner world, back into Rukia's arms. He could feel the contempt behind his sword's action.

As the world came into focus around him, he noticed that Rukia was carrying him, moving at shunpo speed in the direction of Urahara's shop. He almost blushed that his crush was so worried, but when he groaned a little, Rukia suddenly stopped and put him down on a rooftop. "Renji! Are you ok? What did the Hollow do to you?!"

Renji sat up. "Rukia, I'm alright. Zabimaru is just a little concerned." In his head, he felt the duo of animals scoff at his understatement.

Rukia visibly relaxed. "You seem to be in good health... I was so worried! Thank god you're alright!"

Renji decided that a joke would be appropriate. "Since 'Shinigami' means 'Death God,' does that mean you were thanking yourself, Kuchiki? That's a little conceited, don't you think?"

Rukia finally allowed the last of her worry dissipate. If Renji was cracking jokes, then he was healthy. She chuckled. In a soft voice, she said, "Now is not the time to joke, Renji."

"Rukia." There was a sudden change in Renji's voice, one of alarm. Rukia's worry was instantly back, tenfold, and her hand moved to Sode no Shirayuki's hilt.

"What?"

"What is that?" Renji pointed to a figure sitting on the edge of the same building they were on, doing nothing but sitting still. It was wearing a black hakama and had orange hair.

The duo slowly approached the "Hollow." It made no move to turn and face them.

Rukia felt the chasm in her stomach reopen. "I-Ichigo?" She asked.

Renji tapped her lightly. "Rukia, you know as well as I do that that guy isn't Ichigo."

Then, a giant burst of red blood erupted from the Hollow's shoulder, startling the two Shinigami. He made no move, not did anything seem to have touched him. "He's having an internal battle, I think." Renji said softly.

Rukia felt a little bit of hope. Maybe this was Ichigo fighting back, trying to regain his body! "Rukia, we need to leave before he finishes. We don't want to be anywhere near this guy."

Rukia nodded and the two continued their trek back to Urahara's shop.

Renji, though was still internally conflicted. He needed to regain Zabimaru's trust. He just HAD to. He would train doubly hard tomorrow, the next day, and the next day. No mercy.

* * *

Chad Yasutoru was feeling emotion, for once. He was sitting in his apartment, thinking. When he had visited Urahara right after school had let out, the shopkeeper had told him that Renji was gone at a strategy meeting, so he wouldn't be able to train that day. Chad had gone home, disappointed.

At the moment, he was thinking about why his daily training was necessary. He was reflecting back on the last time he had fought, when the Arrancar D-Roy had literally been an inch from ending his life. If Ichigo hadn't arrived when he did, he would be dead. Feeling shameful, he had gone to Renji for training. And the training was working. Chad had felt it as the armor on his right arm had shifted, no longer a two-pronged, tri-striped layer, but rather a thick, powerful, and concise exoskeleton of power. Sometimes, he even felt his left arm twitch involuntarily, as if there was more power he had yet to unlock.

And yet, it was not enough. He had felt the power of the Arrancar who had invaded before, and he had judged his own increase in power. It still wasn't enough to fight alongside his best friend!

'Ichigo... Where are you, Ichigo? You have been missing for a week. You just left without telling anyone. Kon cannot fool Orihime or me,

and Ishida left for personal reasons as well. Even Tatsuki and Keigo are getting suspicious. Why, Ichigo? Do you believe your own power to be insufficient, even as you eclipse me? Do you think you are unable to protect? Do you think you must set yourself even more firmly above me? Ichigo!'

Chad was filled with anguish. He would train doubly hard tomorrow, the next day, and the next day. No mercy.

* * *

Ryuken Ishida was not a fool. He had told his son that the training room blocked out all traces of reiatsu from the outside, but that was ridiculous. He had observed his own son's reiatsu signature vibrations and built the room in such a manner that it vibrated directly in tune with the little amount of reiryoku Uryu had left. It would block out reiatsu senses, yes, but only for his idiot son.

That's why, when Ryuken Ishida felt the Arrancar presence in Karakura, he sped up the training. He focused his reiryoku even more than before and began to fire arrows at a faster rate.

The younger Ishida was surprised, just for just a moment, and it was that moment of hesitation that allowed Ryuken to fire at Uryu, hitting both of his legs at once. "Hesitation, Uryu. It is a trait you would never have shown before your visit to Soul Society. Just another reason to stay away from the fools."

Uryu struggled, but without use of his legs, he couldn't do much. He remained silent, refusing to give the man that was his father yet not his family the satisfaction of making him squeal. He once again cursed his lack of reiryoku; he used to be able to use the Ransotengai to reanimate his legs. Now, he was as helpless as a baby puppy dog. Ryuken approached him and shot his arms.

"That was for blatantly disrespecting your father by using his first name without permission, before even graduating high school."

Uryu was now unable to even flail. Ryuken raised his own bow once more, aimed it at Uryu's upper torso, and fired. The blood spattered, and Uryu lost consciousness.

Ryuken picked up his son's broken and bleeding body. "Push a soul to its utmost exhausted and broken state. While in that state, fire an arrow from a spiritual bow through the spot exactly nineteen millimeters to the right if the heart. That is the only way to recover a Quincy's lost powers." Of course, Uryu didn't know that. He was simply trying his best to survive.

When Ryuken had felt the Arrancar invasion, he normally would have thought nothing of it. But there had been two attacks previously, the same day. Once was acceptable, and twice was tolerable, but if three separate raids on Karakura Town were made, a Quincy was needed. Hollows to eliminate for good, Shinigami to cripple. Even that young Kurosaki-Ichigo, was his name?-was becoming too close to the Shinigami. Ryuken had known Masaki. Her son was too good for those bastards who called themselves Gods of Death. Isshin had been different from the rest, but there is always an exception to every rule. Ryuken had hoped to prolong the training as much as possible, perhaps even for another month, but it was not worth it. If the Arrancar were becoming so brazen, his son needed to destroy them all and save Kurosaki from the Shinigami. His powers would not be all that great when he awoke, because his soul was not utterly shattered, but it would be sufficient. It would be enough to win.

Ryuken would never admit it to anyone, but he felt a small twitch of pride in the bleeding body at his feet. Although he didn't want the Quincies to exist, if the mantle had to be taken up at all, he was proud that it was his son.

* * *

Kon looked up at the sky above him, rubbing his head. "Geez, what is it with Clogs and portals in the sky?" He kept looking at the portal, waiting for Orihime to come out. Any minute now. Aaaaaany minute.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany minute.

"What's taking her so long?" Kon wondered aloud. She was only a second behind me in the portal. Unless..." His eyes widened. "The Cleaner got to her!" He ran towards the gate to the Seireitei as fast as he could. "Jidanbo!" He shouted. "Jidanbo, let me in!" He ran up to the gate and pounded as hard as he could on the gate. "Jidanbo!"

He kept at it for several minutes before someone came up behind him and tapped his shoulder. "Um, excuse me?" It was a generic woman, probably someone that was such a generic character that she didn't even deserve a description. "If you're looking for Jidanbo, he's out for today. He's getting his axes polished, and any Shinigami that urgently needs to come out can go through another gate."

Kon stared at her. "...Why does he need to polish his axes?!"

* * *

Orihime felt helpless. She looked upon the Arrancar in front of her with fear in her eyes. Ulquiorra was not looking back; they were both walking straight through the Dangai Precipice World in complete and utter silence. The only sound was Orihime's heavy breathing and occasional sniffles.

Then, on impulse, Orihime turned and ran the other direction, back towards Kon and the Soul Society. She had barely turned around, though, when Ulquiorra buzzed into existence in front of her. "Woman, why do you run? You are merely doing your duty by serving the strong."

Orihime trembled and turned around again, walking forward. "If strength is all you believe in, then you will never understand anyone but yourself."

Ulquiorra was content to just begin walking again, but this time leading from behind. "If there is something more than strength, then it has not manifested itself in the universe."

Orihime suddenly turned and cried a little. "What do you mean? Everything I need to prove myself is all around me! Human society, Soul Society, even my own brother-" she stopped herself, and bitterly thought about how she had almost spilled a secret about herself to the enemy. "Everything has a heart, even Hollows. The only time physical strength matters is when you ignore these ideals. It takes a cruel soul not to understand these things! Love, compassion…" She paused for a moment. "Desire to protect…" She looked directly at those cold, unfeeling eyes. "If you don't know any of this, then you are a poor man, and I pity you."

Ulquiorra merely watched as the woman babbled on. Did she really believe the filth coming out of her own mouth? If strength were not everything, then that would mean that he held no ties to Aizen-sama at all, and yet here he was. If it were not for Aizen-sama, he would have been devoured long ago. He was weak, and so he must serve the strong. Did the woman not see that?

At last, he spoke: "Aizen-sama is waiting. We mustn't make him displeased."

Orihime began walking again, but slowly, unwilling to go at a speed that was pleasing to her captor. If they did not give her freedom, she would not comply with their demands.

Ulquiorra was musing, though. He did not understand why Aizen-sama had moved up his plan. The girl was not trapped in the emotional cage that was to be. She would not pledge herself to him; she would only cooperate on the brink of death, and so her service was not as valuable as it could have been. It was a logical fallacy on Aizen-sama's part, but even the perfect could not be perfect. Such was the definition of perfection—if something was not ever evolving, it would not be perfect. He could only trust that his lord and master knew what he was doing, as he always did.

They reached the portal to the human world relatively fast, and Orihime then knew how Ulquiorra had found her: He had been waiting in the Dangai for a long time, memorizing the areas that connected to Karakura Town. He was waiting for her to appear, so he could come in not from her own secure route, but from another angle, like a wolf waiting in the darkest depths of a forest for the logger to cut him a path to follow. It was terrifying how precise and quick Aizen was.

They reached the end of the tunnel. Ulquiorra spoke in a loud, clear voice as they emerged into an area that certainly wasn't part of Urahara's underground training field, where the path had begun: "The mission is completed. Fall back immediately."

Orihime felt the golden light of negación descend around her, and she looked around. This was it. Without Kurosaki-kun, she realized, there would be no one to come rescue her. This might very well be her last time seeing Earth. If she hadn't been so resolute in her opposition to Ulquiorra, she would have broken down and cried right there.

Darkness enveloped her as she began the trip to Hueco Mundo, a month earlier than planned.

* * *

_**End of Chapter!**_

**So… yeah, I didn't expect this one to be that long either. When I told you guys that this chapter was originally part of the last one, I intended for the fight itself to be one chapter. Then I realized that too many chapters that are only fights are repetitive, so this one needed a little extra. Then I realized how long it had been since my last update, so I decided it needed to be even longer, as an apology.**

**The plot didn't see too much progression here, but it was still good in my eyes; I spent quite a bit of time explaining the nature of a soul to you guys… If you still don't understand, just let me know in the review and I'll PM you with a clarification. **

**Time for review replies!**

**JanusTheUnlucky7 – Indeed. I couldn't resist making the reference to that meme; it was too fitting! As for your question itself; yes, Ichigo is coming back. Don't you worry one bit. Also, don't worry. I don't plan on killing off anyone, least of all Toshiro, any time in the near future, so you can rest easy knowing that he'll still be alive… but whether he's well or not remains to be seen… MUAHAHAHAHA!**

**i has no clue – Yeah, that's the point of the story—change one event and see the snowball effect. The story is less about Hichigo himself, and more about how changing that single event changes Bleach. I'm glad you caught on to that. As for the moon; don't be silly—those craters were made from where people mined out all of the cheese! Just kidding, of course.**

**Silent Hero 13 – I agree. I didn't realize until the chapter was posted; I needed a way to make Grimmjow angry enough to release, and I needed the Luppi fight to seem desperate enough to the point where a Vizard intervention was something that you guys were audibly cheering for, not just reading about… Although, given that Hitsugaya is around Ulquiorra's level (sans release(s)) at this point in time, it's not too much of a stretch to say that Grimmjow could be decimated if he wasn't paying attention. But thanks for the criticism; that's exactly what I'm looking for in a comment—a way to improve, not a simple "nice job." Thank you, truly. Let me know how this one turned out, ok?**

**Kurotensaki 13 – Glad you're enjoying it; see the reply to Janus for comments on Toshiro.**

**Diesel91499 – I'll attempt to do that in the future—actually, I planned to have next chapter be specifically for training, and our favorite Ichigo-clone is gonna be featured in the bulk, if not entirety of the chapter. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't shunting off everyone else to the side, you know? Like Chad or Uryu. I know Shirosaki wasn't the main focus of this chapter, but was it enough? **

**Rumu – I know, too much beating up on the main characters—don't worry, they have the main character clause, which pretty much guarantees that they won't die in battle. As for the battles themselves… You really think they were that good? Aww, thanks! It was indeed difficult writing them down, so I immediately assumed they were complete garbage—a vote of confidence really means a lot to me.**

**KuroTenshiShiroTenshi – First off, amazing username. I wish I had one that awesome, legitimately. Secondly, thanks. There's not much else to say; I hope I keep doing as well as you say I am. It's my pleasure to write stuff that you guys (and gals) enjoy. Also, there are a few good Hichigo stories out there, you just gotta look. For example, have you seen "Feeling Hollow"? That's gotta be my favorite story on all of fanfiction.**

**NathanX (guest; reviews for Chapters 1, 3, and 7) – I know right? Hichigo needs more screen time. As for the chapters themselves, I'm glad you're enjoying them.**

**Ok, so that's all for reviews. I'm not going to make any promises at all regarding the next update; I'm a little more sporadic than I first thought. High school this past year was more difficult that I bargained for, so when I got quite a few B's (I'm normally an A student), I needed to re-prioritize. **_**Hopefully**_**, I won't be so busy during the summer, but until then, there's no guarantees on anything.**

**Up until this point, including author's notes and this sentence itself, there are exactly 10583 words in this document.**

**Reviews welcome, critics even more so! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


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